Existence and Happenings at the AEC
by TheSymmetricalist
Summary: AU Maybe he wanted to fit in, maybe he just wanted to stop feeling like no one liked him, maybe trying to make friends with the only girl to ever sit down next to him wasn't the greatest idea he ever had, but maybe he could fix up this mess he just made and actually talk to her normally and not just stare at her the way he had been. And just maybe he wasn't as weird as she thought
1. The New Girl

**Hey everyone! I haven't updated in so long, I feel so neglectful. But on the bright side, I got a new fanfic started! Yay! It's a lot different from what I usually do (ALL of my fanfics up until this one have been Soul Eater based) but I think I can adjust myself to fit these new characters (I do Gorillaz roleplays with my friends a lot, part of the reason why I came up with this.)**

**Anyhow, enough rambling. The main inspiration for this, and the main reason why I've been gone for so long, is the fact that I've been working on getting my GED. It hasn't been _hard, _just requires a lot of patience (And a lot of not freaking out when strangers hit on you DX) and a LOT of not drawing on the table (I draw when I'm bored, just automatically, and I'll draw on anything and everything too. I might inculcate that into the story soon.)**

**But anyhow! On this one day in class I was really bored, and my legs were just wanting to run for some reason, I couldn't sit still. I kept thinking about random stuff and eventually thought of the beginning words to a new fanfic...**

**So I went home and came up with this!**

**I hope you enjoy it, it's completely Alternate Universe, everyone's basic personalities are still the same, but a few tweaks have been made here and there, for comedy reasons. I think you'll understand what I mean as we go along.**

**Anyway, here is chapter Uno!**

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**Chapter 1**

**The New Girl**

This was exhaustingly boring. He knew it was. And he knew it wasn't only he who thought so, because everyone in the room was plagued with this extremely bored looking expression, just like the one he had on right now. Here they all were, at least 14 of them, people, including himself, all sectioned off into stations of two computers per desk, all staring at glass monitors, all looking like zombies who haven't had a dosage of brains in four months.

The empty chair next to him, next to our protagonist here, was starting to annoy him. _Everyone _else had someone to sit by, someone to _relate _to, someone to pass little stupid notes to, someone to help out and receive help in return, someone who was here for the same reason they themselves were.

At least that's what he thought these double desks were for, for making friends, right?

He didn't really realize, or he didn't allow himself to realize, that everyone here pretty much hated each other, or at least simply put up with one another. The AEC wasn't an actual school, it wasn't a place these people would be spending a good amount of their life in, it wasn't a truly defining part of their future, the people they met here probably won't be people they'll remember as best friends forever. They were all here for one reason, to get their GED. Whether it's because some of them dropped out of school willingly, or weren't "smart enough" to finish school, or had a pretty rough time in their life and really didn't want to go back to school for a diploma. No matter what situation made them come here to get their GED, it didn't really matter, that's what they were here to get.

But in our little protagonist's mind, every single person here was a good friend to their desk mate. A few sat together constantly, he thought that they must be the _bestest _of friends, and others switched between different people day by day, he thought of them as the social butterflies, the ones with many friends.

But no one has ever, _ever _sat next to him. Not even once. He thought he'd never make a friend in this place.

Our little protagonist here had no one.

He reasoned that it might be because he was too smart, perhaps. He intimidated them, maybe. His mother always did tell him he was a smart kid. Never could it be said that he fell into the category of those not "smart enough" to finish school. The blond kid behind him, who was always playing on his phone when told not to, he believed _he _fell under the category of one not smart enough, because he never listened, so there was no way he could learn anything, right?

And the girl next to _him, _he believed she fell under that category too. Instead of paying attention, she just whispered to the boy. Constantly, she'd be talking to him, asking him questions about his life, his goals, why he's here, where he's planning on going. Often our protagonist listened in on these little conversations they had. He found out that the blond haired boy wants to join the army once he gets out of here, it's simply a need of his, a want,_ a dream. _Our protagonist took that almost offensively, not that it was bad to have a dream, but, why didn't _he_ have one? Why didn't our protagonist want to do something with his life after this? Was it just this, was it just get your GED and get out of here? Everyone here has some sort of dream of theirs. Even the tall, quiet girl who always sits at the very very back of the room has a dream, she wants to become a nurse someday. The boy who is sitting in front of our protagonist has said many times that he wants to become a veterinarian. The brunette over there at the very front of the room, _she _wants to own her own pencil designing company someday. The kid who is always sitting next to her, no matter where she sits, wants to become a freelance photographer. The older, tan skinned woman with the long black hair who today came in with a black eye, she wants to prove to her family that despite dropping out of high school and having a child at 16, she can get her GED and she _can _make a living doing something besides whatever she's doing now. And that guy over there with the glasses, he wants to become a teacher someday.

Our protagonist sighed, realizing that everyone here had made their dreams known in one way or another. He listened to them, even though they didn't really talk to him, he listened, on breaks, in the bathroom, as he was walking out of the building to go home for the day, _he listened _to what they told each other, and he discovered one by one that each person in this room with him had a dream, they had a specific want in life.

But he didn't.

Not only did he not have a dream, he didn't have a friend here either. Maybe you had to have a friend to have a dream, or a dream to have a friend, he didn't really know. But without one or the other, our protagonist felt like he really didn't have a purpose in life. Maybe that's why he ended up dropping out of school during his depression, maybe that's why he had depression to begin with.

He gave out another heavy sigh and shifted his eyes back to the computer screen, when suddenly, from the front of the class room, in came a young woman, with bangs covering her eyes completely. She walked to the front of the instructor's desk and turned her back to the class and bent over to sign her name in the attendance log. Our protagonist couldn't help but notice the extreme contrast between black and white in her symmetrically striped shirt, and was pretty much hypnotized by the perfect pattern. In fact, he was so engrossed in the design of her shirt, that he didn't even realize it was coming closer and closer towards his very eyes.

He shook his head and looked at her face, noting how she was taking in her surroundings to see if there was anywhere else to sit, she kind of didn't feel comfortable sitting next to the guy who just stared her down as she walked over here. She supposed that was the reason why everyone else seemed to have the same idea, as there truly were no other seats to take. She mumbled something in a foreign language, barely audible for our protagonist to hear as she put down a black bag underneath the chair and then sat down, trying to avoid eye contact with the man next to her, who was still glancing at her out of the corner of his eye.

She unfolded a piece of paper that had some login information on it, and proceeded to type it into the computer so that she could begin her online class, just as the others were already doing.

There was a sudden silence, a sort of calm to the atmosphere as our protagonist tried thinking of what just happened. A good few minutes went by before his head perked up and he looked around the room.

Everyone has a _partner, a friend, _as he reasoned.

_Someone was finally sitting next to him._

_Someone was finally going to be his friend!_

He put the pieces together in his head, and he suddenly formed a big goofy grin as his heart leaped with joy at the thought of finally having a _friend, a partner, a study buddy, someone to fill the annoyingly empty chair beside him!_

He looked at her, staring accidentally, and started thinking about what their future friendship might be like.

Of course he'd first have to ask for her name, they'd have to start with small chat after finishing their own private sessions online, maybe someday he'll have a very hard quiz, and she'll end up with the same one, and they'll use some form of _tapping code _to tell each other the answers they did know, and they'd both ace the test and be friends forever and ever and...

"Stop staring at me." He heard a stern, feminine whisper come from the girl, his new desk partner, and he was immediately pulled from his dream world.

"Oh, uh, sorry..." He scratched his head and turned back to the computer screen, heating up with embarrassment at the fact that he was indeed unconsciously staring at the poor girl. She probably thought he was a creep by now.

To be honest, though, she looked too young to be here. He was 25, but she looked to be only 19 or 20. Surely not of drinking age yet. Unless she was really 82 and had some weird aging disorder where she got younger as she aged, like that Benjamin guy on the movie...

But anyhow, she seemed friendly, for the most part. Well, like, she did at least _sit _next to him and not just go to the teacher and ask to be relocated to a different room like the other girl did. Tina, he thought her name was. Yeah, she did that.

But this girl sat next to him, and she was staying. And she looked kinda cute too, her chin and cheeks did at last, as he couldn't see anything higher than her nose...

Oh crap, he was staring again.

Out of the corner of his eye, but still, what if she-

"I said Stop. Staring. At. Me." She seemed to verbally capitalize each word as it rolled off her tongue. Our protagonist cringed and switched his attention back to his work. He noted that despite her starting _long _after he did, she was already on the same chapter as him. Now how did that happen? Magic? Was she a time travler? A time lord? Gasp! … Was she the Doctor?!

Quite suddenly, our protagonist was face to face with the most gorgeous set of green eyes he had ever come across, and Asian ones at that. Wait, she was Asain?

But more importantly, she was right up in his face, and she looked angry.

"What part of "Stop staring at me" do you not understand?" She angrily whispered. He concluded that he must have been staring _again_.

"Uh, well, I uh..."

"Stuart! What part of not talking during testing have you not figured out yet!?" The instructor shouted from her desk. Our poor protagonist felt like he was getting the heat from two angles now. Meanwhile, the girl who had no less then two seconds ago been up in his face with fury, was now facing the computer, somehow already on the next chapter of testing material. How on earth was she so fast?

Our protagonist whispered a short apology to Mrs. Robinson, the instructor, and went back to his testing page, figuring he'd think more about making friends with the cute little stripy girl after they were both finished. He avoided looking at her too much after that incident, but she was too darn adorable to simply resist altogether. Every now and then he caught a glimpse of her little green eyes glancing back at him menacingly, and he'd quickly correct himself and go back to his work. He had soon become somewhat of an eye ninja, successfully catching the quickest glances without making too much of a scene. At least, _he _felt he didn't make a scene, but the fact that he was trying so hard to look at her was probably as obvious as an elephant having walked into the room.

Before he knew it, though, the girl had already finished the last chapter and was getting up to leave. Stuart hadn't even finished the chapter he was on when she walked in an hour ago.

"Wait!" He quickly logged out of his assignment, he figured he'd finish it from home later, and jumped up to meet her face to face, although he did have to keep himself somewhat bent over to see directly into her eyes, er, bangs, as she was much shorter than he was.

"Yes?" She asked in a rather ticked off tone.

"Um, wha' migh' yor name be?" He asked, hints of a Cockney accent dripping off his tongue. The girl rolled her eyes, invisible to everyone but herself, and whispered, "Xia." before turning on her heels and heading over to the desk to sign out. He followed her, and signed out right after her, quickly copying her time onto his so he didn't waste a second looking at a clock. For whatever reason, something made her actually stop in the hallway and keep the door open for him, and when he came out, he mumbled a short "Thank you." before turning to face her and waiting as the door closed before saying anymore bold words, or what was bold for him since this was the first time he ever talked to a_nyone _here who wasn't an instructor or principal or something.

"Um, well I'm-"

"I know who you are, Stuart. Why were you staring at me during testing? It was very distracting. You almost made me fail test 4 and I missed 3 out of 10 questions on test 5."

"Uh, I'm sorry luv, I didn' men teh-"

"Save your "Sorrys" for the instructor, because I don't work like that. I came here, not to socialize, not to make friends, not even to speak a word unless I absolutely have to, but to get my GED and get out of here. Understand?" At this point she had her index finger to his chest, and she was poking him hard, but the green glasses clad lad was too caught up in the fact that his little friend was actually talking to him to even care that it was negative what she was talking about.

"Hey, 2D Boy, snap out of it and answer me!" She snapped her fingers in front of the man, who still wasn't answering whether or not he understood what she had told him five seconds ago.

"I'm sorry, repea' teh question luv? I was, uh... Wai' wha' do yew mean by 2D Boy?"

"Repeat? Seriously? You heard nothing I just said?" She sighed and leaned away from him, returning her hand to her side so it was no longer in the position it was when she was poking at him. She mumbled something, again in a foreign tongue, and walked away swiftly, totally ignoring the boy who just now decided that _maybe _he shouldn't head in that same direction just yet.

Maybe he'd wait for tomorrow before he tried chatting her up again.

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**So, was it enjoyable, or horrible?**

**R&amp;R, pleasies :)**

**I remember a while back having a book that told you how to write in different accents. I don't really remember how to do the Cockney accent, but through reading other fanfics I just adopted what I learned and tried using it here with 2D.**

**And no, I'm not changing Noodles name to Xia.**

**If I could avoid a flame, I would, but constructive criticism in itself is lovely! You know what's even better? Cookies! But the internet has yet to give us the ability to give actual cookies through the computer screen, (Get with it, Google! By next year I wanna see Google Cookies!) but if I could, you know I'd totally give all my readers cookies!**

**And not just to bribe them either ;)**

**Until next update!**

**-The Symmetricalist **


	2. Spoken Music

**I'm back! I honestly didn't think I'd get any further than the first chapter on this thing, as seeing that it's probably not a very interesting story in general (I'm gonna MAKE it interesting, alright?) but I got some interesting inspiration last night and decided to flow with it.**

**It's already deviating from what I originally wanted it to become, but hey, it also seems to be heading in a more interesting direction than before as well.**

**Enjoy!**

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**Chapter 2**

**Spoken Music**

A day later, and pretty much the same routine repeated itself. Stuart sat all alone at his desk, finishing up his test that he didn't complete. Really, after going home yesterday, all he did was watch a bit of TV, read a few comic books, and then went to bed. He vaguely remembers having a strange dream where an alternate version of himself was singing alongside a sadistic bassist who was desperately attempting to murder him with a toilet paper roll and a box full of string cheese, but he related it to yet another late night eating binge and didn't think too hard on it. The song he was singing during the dream, though, seemed to have a lot of meaning, so much that he even wrote down a few of the lyrics to try and find out whether or not it was a real song.

But, unfortunately, he spent too much time this morning trying to write down nonsensical song lyrics and ended up being 30 minutes late to the class room.

But that didn't matter so much since Xia wasn't here yet anyways.

The bored young man gave out a yawn and caught a glimpse of a man a little older than him, with jet black hair formed into a Beatle cut, who was sitting alone in the far right chair across from Stuart. He had seen this guy before, yes, but only for a moment or so. He typically sat there along with a young girl, blue eyes, brown hair, really cute little thing, and he wasn't ever, ever without that girl by his side for too long. They didn't seem to be romantic at all, the two barely even talked, but she just always sat next to him, almost like a moth to candlelight. And on the rare occasion that she arrived to the room before him, he made note of it to sit next to her when he did come in.

But today, he was alone. It had been a while, and the girl was nowhere to be seen. Stuart found it rather odd, to be honest.

On top of the girl being gone, the man seemed rather tense today. His leg was shaking ferociously as he stared at the screen in front of him, hunched over and leaning on the desk as a small golden Peace Sign hung in midair, suspended by a golden chain that found itself at home around his strong neck.

Suddenly, in walked, not the girl, but Xia. The man across the way from Stuart seemed almost disappointed at that fact., as his leg had actually completely paused its shaking once he heard the door open up. The moment he saw that it wasn't his friend, though, he went back to shaking his leg and concentrating upon the screen.

Stu found it very cute that the man would have such a strong connection to the girl that simply the thought of her walking in would make him calm down completely.

He decided he'd eventually share this finding with his friend.

"Ello, Saya! 'Ow are yew dis-"

"Shhh!" Mrs. Robinson hushed the loud, tall man from her seat behind the desk. Stuart lowered his voice to continue with his morning greeting, ignoring the fact that "Shhh" meant he really shouldn't be talking at all.

"Uh, 'ow are yew dis mornin', Saya?"

"Xia, not Saya." Was all she said as she logged in to her work page and began reading up for her next set of tests. Stuart, instead of reading along with her as he should have been, was instead peeking over Xia's head to see the man. He was still shaking up a storm, not even putting his hand to his mouse to switch over from whatever he was reading, surely he was done with that page by now, right?

Finally, the girl walked in, and the guy perked up the moment he saw her. Stuart sighed, maybe someday that'd be him and his little love Xia someday.

Around 10 minutes after the girl had sat down, Stu noticed that the man was now clicking his mouse to move along in the lesson, a click or so sounded each few minutes.

Stuart was soon interrupted by Xia giving a small, sarcastic giggle.

"I knew that's what she was there for." She mumbled inaudibly.

"Wot do ya mean?" Stuart whispered back.

"He's using her to cheat."

"'Ow tho'?"

"I'll tell you later."

"Why won't yew tell m-"

"SHHH!" Mrs. Robinson was fuming at the poor boy, so he decided to just be quiet until they were both finished for today.

Another hour went by, and then another, and Stuart was surprised that Xia was still there next to him. He expected that she would have left by now, as she did before, but she was still sitting there, reading the chapters at a more normal pace than she did yesterday.

Granted, she was still far ahead of him, but it was nice for him that she was slowing down, even if she wasn't doing so for his benefit.

Minute turned to hour, and hour became hours, and soon it had reached 240 minutes that they had been there. Four hours in almost uninterrupted silence. Sure, everyone took a break every half hour or so, whether to go outside and smoke or to go into the hallway and talk, this wasn't school so as long as their work got done eventually whatever they did in-between was their business. But for Xia, it didn't seem like she needed, nor wanted, a break. She was entirely focused on her work, and because of the fact that she never took a break, neither did Stu.

Before meeting the girl, he'd take short breaks outside to smoke a cigarette or mess around on his smart phone every time he felt the need to, but now he felt the need to stick by her for that one little moment where maybe, just maybe, she'd need his help with something, and it'd become an excuse to talk to her.

For now, that moment hadn't happened, but he was sure of himself that it would eventually happen, if he just stayed here and didn't get up, not even for a cigarette or a quick yet frustrating round of Cloppy Horse.

And then rather abruptly, she rose up from her seat, grabbed her little black bag from under the chair, and headed towards the desk to sign out.

He didn't even see her close out her testing screen! And yet she was already near the door, shooting him a quick glance as she opened it and removed herself from the room. He quickly followed in her pattern so as to catch up to her, hoping to finally find out what she meant during that whole conversation they had earlier in the morning.

But after he finished signing out and made his way out the door, he didn't see her, at all. He headed down the hallway and descended the stairs, his long legs moving as quick as they could without sending him tumbling down the concrete steps, and ended up at the end right next to the exit without any major injuries, much unlike the last time he went down a staircase that fast.

He placed his lanky hand upon the metal push bar and with a little strength, pushed it open to invite a cool breeze to come upon his skin from the sweet December air. He forced his body to move fully outside, mentally noting to himself that he really should start wearing his jacket, and then he looked left and right to try and find the girl he had, for some reason, come to know as his friend. He saw her small figure off in the distance to the right of him, getting further and further away as she headed towards a fence that came around the border of the AEC property.

Without too much thought on what he should do right then and there, he decided to follow, not too closely so that he'd have to run to catch up to her, but just enough so he could see exactly where she was going.

He saw her jump up over the fence, and then continue on into the forest beyond the fence, almost disappearing instantly into the brush. Stuart was entirely confused at this point, why was she going into a forest? Maybe her home was right beside the woods? He wasn't really sure, but he did know that if he didn't speed up at least a little, he'd lose her.

Once he was sure she was out of earshot of hearing him running towards her, he picked up his pace and made it to the fence rather quickly. He jumped over it without a lot of difficulty, although he did end up falling flat on his face and getting a few cuts in the process.

After taking a few little stickers off of his face and fingers, he raised himself up and brushed the dirt from his pants. He looked around, curious as to which direction she went, and scratched his head, realizing that maybe following a girl he's only known two days into a forest was probably not the best idea he ever had. And now, despite being two feet from the AEC parking lot, he felt lost.

But suddenly, he heard music. Guitar strumming, to be exact. It seemed to be coming from his left, but it was quite faint, so he knew he'd have to walk a little way before finding the source. Wait, was that Xia playing? Maybe, he wasn't really sure yet.

He followed the pretty, strumming sound of the guitar and got a little excited as it kept getting louder, because that meant he was going in the right direction, and even if he did get lost while looking for the girl, at least he'd find her, and if they couldn't find their way back together, then at least they could repopulate the earth together. Wait, what?

Ah! There she was. He saw her in a small, round clearing, leaning up against a big tree as she held her guitar close and strum away with her tiny, feminine fingers. She seemed so engrossed in the music she was creating, she didn't even notice the tall, slender, blue haired man who was peeking at her from behind a tree a few feet away from her. He stared at her intensely, but it was a different type of stare from the one he did in the class room. This stare was, not one of infatuation or unconsciously not realizing that he was staring, but out of admiration. Yeah, he knew of a lot of people who could play guitar, he admittedly even took a try at it once or twice, despite not being very good, but this girl here did it differently, she seemed to not simply play the guitar, but she was one with the guitar. She didn't tell the guitar what to play, the guitar spoke to her and told her how to play it, how to make the strings speak for it. Almost like a secretary, really. And she was the most beautiful guitar secretary Stuart had ever seen.

Things went on like that for about 15 minutes, and not once did she see him standing there. Eventually she got up, put the guitar under a black tarp that seemed to just appear there, grabbed her little black purse, and left the area, heading behind the tree she was leaning on and continuing onward. Stu decided that he had enough of being a creepy stalker for the day, and instead of following her more, he let her be and went back to the parking lot to get in his car and go home.

The next day seemed to go the same. He and Xia didn't really talk, and she still didn't tell him what she meant about the guy using the girl he always sat with to "cheat", but he did make note that the guy never seemed to start doing any actual work until the girl walked in. He also noted how the girl would often lean over and point at certain things on his screen. Maybe he was using her to cheat.

The same scene ensued after testing ended as well. Stuart followed Xia out of the building, over the fence, and then he stood and watched her as she played her guitar for 15 minutes against the same tree. He didn't feel any braver today than he did yesterday, so he still didn't bother talking to her or even following her any further than he had before. So he went back, repeating the same pattern like this over again for yet another day.

Today, though, he felt as though there was a different texture to the feeling between them. She seemed upset, over what exactly he wasn't sure, he knew nothing more than her first name and that she played guitar very well, but she surely did seem upset.

She always seemed emotionless to him, so of course even the slightest sight of feeling on her face was a miracle to him, as well as a cause for alarm since it was a negative emotion she seemed to be feeling.

After she signed out and he continued in his routine of following her out to the clearing in the forest to watch her play, however, he noticed that she wasn't playing. In fact, her guitar wasn't even near her. There didn't seem to be anything under the tarp either. Did something happen to it?

But even more importantly, she was leaning against the tree, as she usually did, with tears falling from her face. The poor girl, she was crying!

But he didn't know what to do, he didn't know what to do at all. He knew that the right thing to do would be to go over and console her, figure out what was wrong and what he could do to help, but she didn't really seem like the type of girl who would like that, she was a little more of an independent soul, and Stu sure as heck knew that he didn't even know how to do that in the first place.

So instead, he just looked on in silence, his heart aching at the scene of the young girl, who, after lifting up the tarp where she usually kept her guitar, broke into even more tears after revealing that it was completely, utterly, destroyed.

Now Stuart was just confused. Why would she keep her guitar outside to begin with, and two, who would destroy her guitar?

He hoped she didn't think he did it.

Then again, she didn't seem to know that he had been watching her these past few days, so he felt safe.

Xia cried for a little while longer before she got up, grabbed her little black purse, and headed in the same direction she did every day.

Only this time, instead of going back to the parking lot after she left, he instead walked over to the tarp with the broken guitar under it, and inspected the broken pieces.

It was completely unrepairable, the only things left were shards of broken wood and dismembered guitar strings. You could barely even tell that it was once a guitar.

However, Stu did notice two letters on one shard of wood, so he picked it up to investigate it further. The letters, which looked like they had been messily burned into the guitar at one point, read "No."

No? Who would write "No" on their guitar?

But then he found another piece with yet another "O" on it, and one more piece with the letters "DLE" on it. He realized that all these pieces were connected at one point, so after a little puzzle solving, he finally got them to fit together the way that they were.

And now, they formed the word "Noodle".

Now who the heck would burn the word "Noodle" on a guitar?

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**After this, I got pretty into it, and already I'm almost done with chapter 3.**

**I kinda see where it's going, but I'd be lying if I said I know how it will end. There is s_o much _I want to do with this and I hope any readers I gain (You guys rock btw) will stick with me on this journey through weirdness!**

**For some of you who may not know about the whole process of getting a GED (Many of my friends have no clue, so I'm not trying to be critical or something) basically when you first go in to get it, they'll put you through four pre-pre tests to see what grade level you're at for each subject, after this (Which will typically take two days as each test is around 47 minutes long) they'll bring you into an orientation room, where you will go over test scores and receive motivation (I did at least) to do your best. Once in orientation you'll be taking more tests, these ones typically involve jobs and mimic situations that you'd run into in a job (Our instructor once gave us a test with questions such as "If you could be an animal what animal would you be and why?" and "Who is your favorite cartoon character?" then he explained the interesting reason _why _he gave us that test. I'll explain it in a later chapter). These tests can be done from home but you are required to spend at least 14-20 hours in the actual orientation class room over a course of two weeks. After _that,_ you take the GED pre-test (My scores were high on the initial pre-pre-test so they had me and some other kids go ahead and take the pre-test already) If you score high, (I wasn't expecting it so I flipped out and got a low score) they have you go and take the regular test and if you pass you can get out of there, but if you score low on a few subjects, then they put you in classes to help you on only those specific subjects. This is from my personal experience with the whole GED process and it's probably different depending on your state, so don't by any means take my word for it. I just thought a little explanation might help you get an idea of where my mind is at while I'm writing this.**

**The beginning chapters of this fanfic are based in the initial orientation, where they'll probably be for another week.**


	3. Angel in Disguise

**Hey, everyone! So, it's Saturday, and I really love Saturday. And one of the things I love doing on Saturday is writing. So, here I am, with the third chapter for EaHatA! **

**Told you I almost had it done ;)**

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**Chapter 3:**

**Angel in Disguise**

Stuart decided that the number one way to be a friend to little Xia would be to give her back what she had lost. He didn't know why her guitar was destroyed, he didn't know why she kept it outside in that clearing, and he didn't know why she played it all the time, but he did know that from the look on her face earlier, she'd probably really appreciate it if she had it back. But since the guitar was in no condition to ever be repaired, he'd have to find a way to get her a new one.

But simply getting a new one wouldn't do. She obviously had a connection to that guitar specifically, she even burned her favorite food into the side of it. You don't simply write your favorite food onto something you don't love dearly.

So, in hopes of finding an identical replacement, he took the three pieces of the guitar with the burnt in letters on them, and set off to the local thrift shop to find a guitar that looked like the old one. And after an entire day of shopping around for the perfect guitar, he finally found one that looked almost identical to hers, only it was a little darker of a color than the other. He decided it would have to do, it was still a beautiful guitar, he even bought a nice guitar case to go along with it, and on the way home, he also picked up a little wood burning kit.

He spent at least three hours, yes three hours, painstakingly copying the exact font from the pieces he had into the guitar he had bought. He wanted it to look identical to hers, in every way possible. Of course, in order for the time spent on his little project to be able to amount the three hours, he took a break after every letter to play a round of _Cloppy Horse _on his phone. Damn that tempting little pixelized pony.

Once he was sure that it would do, he set the guitar down by the door so that he'd remember it tomorrow when he left.

His tired eyes shut hard the moment he hit his bed, and right before he drifted off into sleep, he smiled, because he felt like he really did something _good _today.

The next day, he woke up bright and early, and felt amazing, like he had slept a million hours and finally felt fully refreshed. Then he looked at the clock and realized he had _overslept _and it was already 2:00PM.

He let out a curse and fell back into the bed, feeling awful, like he just wasted the entire day sleeping. Granted, orientation classes don't end until 5:00, so he still had the chance to get in there and get at least a few hours in, but Xia always left at 12:00 or 1:00, so no matter what, he already missed her.

He decided to get up anyway, hours were important, and he had to get as many as possible in that room. He got dressed, ate a quick meal, and went out the door, bringing the guitar with him so he could at the very least place it by that tree before tomorrow.

But then he realized tomorrow was Saturday.

Neither of them would be there tomorrow.

Dangit.

Either way, he put the guitar in the car and headed for the AEC, and much to his surprise, when he got there and pulled in to the parking lot, there was Xia, sitting down by the fence she jumped over each day.

Upon seeing her, he seemed to have totally forgotten about class, and instead decided to head towards her, making each step slower than he usually walked so he could gradually figure out from a distance what she was doing over here instead of being back at home like normal. She did have a home, didn't she?

Once he was around 10 feet away, she looked up at him and seemed almost startled, like she really didn't notice him coming towards her. She rubbed at her eyes and stood up, her little black bag hanging off her shoulder loosely and her head leaning towards the ground as she tried to avoid too much eye contact with him.

"Ey, yew alrigh'?"

"I'm fine. I just wanted to know why you didn't come in today, it was odd." Wait, did she really care about why he wasn't in today?

"Oh, slept late, dang alarm clock didn' wake meh up."

"Good, just making sure you weren't dead." She seriously thought he was dead?

"Oh, well tha' was nice of yew, luv." There seemed to be an awkward silence between them at that point, if all she wanted to do was make sure he was okay, then why was she still here?

"Aren't you going to go to class now?"

"Well, I'm makin' sure yewr alrigh', yew know? Yew're typically gone by now, luv. Yew didn' really 'ang aroun' jus' the see if a bloke lioke me was still alive, did yew?"

"So what if I did?" She turned red, not so much as with embarrassment, but with anger. But perhaps the anger was just there to hide the embarrassment.

"'Ey now, lil luv, it jus' seems like theirs somefink more, maybe, idunno, bu' I wanna know if I kin 'elp yew out wit' anyfink."

"Don't be so nosy with my life."

"I'm no' tryin' to be nosy, luv. I jus' wanna know, are yew alrigh'?" She walked right up to him so that they were literally toe to toe. She lifted her heels as high as they'd go so that she was as close to his face as possible, then she placed a hand on his shoulder, and used her other hand to pull up her bangs to reveal a black bruise under her left eye.

And with a stern voice, she whispered to him, "I'm fine." before switching back to her original position, holding her little black purse closer to her side, and walking away from him, going towards the parking lot.

That's not the way she went home, she always went through the forest. Maybe there was another way to get to her house, or maybe she just didn't want him seeing where she went to go home. Either way, he decided to go back to his car, grab the guitar which was in the guitar case, and go into the clearing where she always was and leave it by the tree.

As he placed down the big black leather object against the trunk of the tree, he swore that he heard a faint cry coming from the distance. It was getting closer and closer, just as he remembered walking through the forest and hearing the guitar strumming get louder and louder as he got nearer to the source. And same as last time, the sound he was hearing was most certainly from Xia.

Before the crying got too close, he jumped over to the tree that he usually hid behind while watching her play, and decided to wait and see if she noticed the guitar, and if so, what she thought about it.

He saw her come through the brush, her face red from tears and her knees shaking as she leaned down against the tree and covered her face in her hands, entirely ignoring the guitar case that was right next to her on the other side of the tree.

The guitar case fell from the place it was leaning on onto the ground below, giving out a startling _thunk _which snapped the girl out of her tears and into a state of confusion as she saw the object laying there by her.

She looked up, perhaps to see if there were any hidden cameras that would capture the moment when she opened the case and got hit in the face with a pie for laughs, but she soon allowed her paranoid side to perish and she took another look at the case before opening it up to reveal a beautiful brown acoustic guitar, with "Noodle" written on the bottom, in the exact way her other one had. She covered her mouth, and looked around again, wondering who in the world left this here. For a split second she thought maybe an angel had taken pity on her and left this as a sign for her to keep playing music, because maybe, just maybe, that angel _knew _that music was her only escape from this horrible, horrible existence she had come to know as life.

And maybe she was right, because as she picked up the guitar and began to play it the way she had with the old one, that angel, _her _angel, was smiling at her, not from a cloud in the sky as most angels would, but from behind a tree a few feet away from her.

* * *

**I know I've only written three, but this is my favorite so far :)**

**I feel like it reads a little too fast, it is much shorter than the other two, but I also feel like it gets the job done, so I like that.**

**R&amp;R, and stay tuned for another chapter!**


	4. The Beatle Brother

**Hey everyone! Sorry I took a while to get back on this, (I should be apologizing about my other fics that have gone nearly abandoned but oh well. I'll get to em when I get inspiration again) truth be told it's been nearly complete for a week now but I've been so busy with school that I've gotten lazy with my writing and didn't want to go proofread it.**

**But now it's here, with a new character to be introduced (Yay!) I was honestly nervous that I might, idunno, get people mad with certain things I did to him, but others have done way worse, and this is AU so I can do what I want.**

**Enjoy!**

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**Chapter 4:**

**The Beatle Brother**

The girl continued to play her new guitar much longer than she usually did. Never did she even look up to notice to blue haired boy looking on at her, a giant, happy grin on his face as he watched her sobs fade away into the music she was creating. For a while, he thought of a few words he could add to the song, she was consistent with her tunes, so it'd be easy to come up with a few lyrics here and there every now and then. But if she heard someone else singing along, then she might get frightened and stop playing, thinking she was being stalked. So for now, Stuart kept his song to himself, as did she, and they both continued on for at least an hour, her playing her new strings, and him listening to the gentle rhythm.

After a while, Xia stopped playing, and placed the guitar back in its case, then placed the case under the tarp and hid it inside a nearby bush. She grabbed her little black bag, and almost started walking away, when she slowly turned around and stared at the exact tree Stu had been hiding behind. It didn't really seem like a knowing stare, more or less it was a stare of curiosity, of who could be so generous to her, and had they still been in the area after leaving the guitar, did they take her playing it as a thank you to them?

Stuart was contemplating coming out of hiding and admitting that he left the guitar for her, but then again, maybe it'd be better to just leave it be.

Then again, if he didn't say something now, he'd have to wait an entire weekend to see her again. He at the very least wanted her number or _something, _he couldn't just let her leave right now! Maybe he could just pretend that he heard her playing and decided to come over, he didn't have to tell her it was he who bought her the guitar-

"I don't know who you are or why you decided to do something so nice for me. But if you hear me, thank you." She spoke before walking away, slowly but surely. He was missing his chance, couldn't he say something to catch her attention? Could he ask about her bruise? Maybe it'd be rude to talk about her bruise, she could have just fell or hit her face on a door or got smacked with a baseball, it couldn't have been too serious.

But as he was over thinking what he should do, he missed his chance, and she left him alone.

He realized that it was too late, so he went back to his car with a sorrowful face, to go home and spend an entire weekend upset that he didn't stop her from leaving so soon.

He trudged through the parking lot, wallowing in self pity and filled with "What if" questions that he'd never really get the answer to. What if he stopped her? What if he told her that he had been watching her for the past few days and he really loved her music, and what if he told her that he didn't want her to stop playing because it seemed to make her happy, so when he saw her guitar broken, he decided to get her a new one, so she could keep playing? What if he told her that even though he knew he came off as creepy when they first met, that he really wanted to get to know her better because he really liked her and wanted them to be friends?

Stu sighed and opened up the door to his little silver Cavalier, plopping himself inside and putting the key in the ignition, still plagued with sad thoughts that were immediately halted the moment he realized his car wasn't starting.

"No! Nononononono! T'is can' be 'appening, what am I going to do? 'Ow will I ge' 'ome? Me cellphone is dead! I can' call a tow truck or-"

"Quit wailing, you loudmouth!" A sudden, deep, rough voice was heard above Stuart's overreacting fit, and the young man looked up to see a tan man in a black sweater walking closer and closer to his car.

"Oh great! Now I'm gonna ge' mugged by a Beatle brother!"

"Wha' the hell, wha' is a beetle brother?"

"I don' know but you look like one! Here, take my walle', just don' shoot me!" Stuart practically threw the leather object at the man, who more or less just continued to stare at him like he was a side show attraction.

"Listen, I don' wanna take yor money. I wante' to see wha' was wrong, I coul' see your car wouldn' start and was wondering if you needed a jump." The man had a British accent, which was a bit of a coincidence to Stuart. Then again, he didn't really care about coincidences at this moment, he just wanted to get the heck away.

"Please don' jump me!"

"Your car, moron!"

"Oh, you want the Cavvy? Bu', why? She won' even run, yew said it yewrself." The man slapped his face and gave an overly exaggerated sigh.

"I wan' to help you get your car running so you can go back home, alrigh'? I don' wan' to jump you, or kill you, or rob you."

"Oh... Tha's a relief."

"Do you wan' help or not?"

"No... I mean, yes. Please 'elp."

"Alrigh', I'll bring my car around and git you started back up in no time." The man walked away and Stu settled down. He suddenly recognized the man as the one who always sat next to that one girl, the girl Xia told him was helping the guy to cheat on his tests. But, he seemed like a nice man, why would he take advantage of a little girl like that just so he could get a higher score? And wouldn't the teacher have noticed that by now if it were the case?

Suddenly, a black, beaten up 1990 VW GTI rolled over to the stagnant Cavalier, surprising Stuart for some reason. It was an odd little car, and he simply didn't expect this near intimidating man to be driving something so, cute.

The man got out of his car after parking it close to Stuart's, and came over to the hood of the Cavalier.

"Pop the hood." He asked, one hand on the silver metal as he leaned the other upon his hip.

"Wha'?"

"Pop the hood of your car."

"Why?" The man gave him a look of utter disbelief as his jaw dropped, did the class nerd seriously just forget what was happening here?

"So I can jump start it, you-" He had begun to raise his voice at him, but instead took a deep breath and held it in until he felt his heart rate slow down. Stu studied him as he closed his eyes and turned away, and a few seconds later, he looked back at him with softer, calmer eyes, and told him what he meant with a more composed tone of voice.

"I nee' you to pop the hood so tha' I can jump start the car."

"Yew can' open it from there?"

"No, I nee' you to push the button."

"Button?"

"It shoul' look like a black button with a picture of the hood of the car being lifted."

"Ai don' see nuffin lioke tha' in here." Stuart looked around where the majority of the buttons were in his car, and ignored the little hole where the button the man was talking about should have been located at.

"Let me see." He came around the side and looked in, immediately finding the little hole and smacking his face when he realized why Stuart couldn't find the button.

"See? Jus' a lil' 'ole righ' there."

"Yeah, the button is missing."

"'Ow we gonna open it?"

"Well 'ow 'ave you opened it in the past? This car does get oil changes and stuff, righ'?"

"Oil wha'?"

"You don' give your car an oil change? Ever?"

"I jus' drive it."

"You drive your car, and jus' never, ever have it checked up or given an oil change or anything?"

"Neveh eveh."

"'Ow the bloody 'ell 'ave you not blown yourself up yet?!"

"I don' know... Lucky I guess?"

"Well here, give me something to shove in here so it can act like a button." Stu turned around and started rummaging in the back of his car, which was filled with random nonsensical junk that no one in their right mind would need ever. Of course, all this crud came with the car, so it made him feel like he got a better deal on it. After all, who knows when he may need a broken kaleidescope, half of an Iron Maiden CD, a Pinkie Pie pony plush with blacked out eyes and no limbs, or an empty case for the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off?

Now that he thought about it, he felt like he had paid to become a hoarder.

"What abou' t'is?" He grabbed a broken, white jumbo sized crayon and held it out to the confused man who really got more than he bargained for when he thought he'd try and help a fellow student out.

"No, it'll break if we shove it in there." Stuart suddenly started cackling like a mad man at his reply, and after a few gasps and many confused looks, he went back to searching for something.

"T'is?" He gave him a purple stick, it looked like a broken piece to a child's toy, and after thinking about it for a moment, the man took it.

"Migh' work, it's durable." He leaned down and shoved it into the hole, wiggling it around a bit and eventually hearing a pop come from the front of the car. He walked around, a grin on his face as he opened it up, and looking inside, he wondered how the heck this car had been running up until now.

"Alrigh', jus' give me a secon' 'ere and I'll have yeh up and running in a jiffy." Stuart sat back in his seat as he watched the man silently walk over to his car and get the jumper cables out before opening up his own hood and attaching the cables to the separate vehicles. He wondered if he could strike up a conversation with him at some point, because it was a little awkward just sitting there. So, he of course did what _anyone _in his situation would do, and started accusing the man of being a cheater.

"Yew're teh guy who cheats wit' t'at lil' girl, righ'?"

"Wha'?" Stuart got out of his seat, stood up straight and leaned against the car to seem a little more chill.

"Teh girl who always sits next to yew."

"I don't cheat! How dare you accuse me of..." He did the same thing he did in the beginning when he felt himself turning red with anger. He calmed down, took some breaths, and responded in a better tone. "I 'ave never cheated on those tests, not one of them."

"Then why do yew neveh start doin' anyfink 'til she's nex' to yew?"

"If you must know, she 'elps me, yes. But I don't use 'er to cheat. I 'ave... a condition, it's a lot easier if she's there is all."

"Is it like an eye condition?"

"If you really want to know, Sir Nosy, I'm dyslexic." He looked him in the eyes, and suddenly Stuart felt really bad. He accused a dyslexic guy of cheating! How awful! Now... What exactly was dyslexia again?

"So, do yew lioke, see meh backwards?"

"You're turning out to be a very pitiful bloke, aren' you? No, I don' see everythink backwards. It's jus' not easy to read, not the way it is for you, at least. But I don't like people to know, Noel knows, and now you know, and that's it."

"Oh. So, 'ow does she 'elp yew?"

"She'll read some things for me if I'm 'aving a 'ard time. I can do my own work, I don't need to cheat. I understand everything perfectly fine. But, she's a major 'elp for me."

"Tha's nice, so she's yewr girlfrien'?" The other man's eyes went wide with surprise, but he visibly shook off his shock and responded.

"No, we aren' dating. We don't even see each other outside of class."

"Do yew wan' to date 'er?"

"Shut up!" He almost yelled, his eyes were bent in anger and you could easily see red on his well defined face. He could feel himself losing control, but then paused as he calmed down and realized he really has no reason to be so upset.

"I like 'er. Alrigh'? She's a sweetheart. But, she's got a guy, 'e's a huge jerk, but she loves 'im. I don't have a chance with her because she really doesn't give a damn about me outside of helping me out here and there. That's jus' 'er personality. She's helpful." Stuart looked off to the side, trying to think of something that he could relate to this guys situation.

"Oh. Well, I lioke a girl too. I bought 'er a guitar."

"Tha's lovely." The man said it so monotone that it was obvious he didn't truly care, but Stu ignored his tone and continued anyway.

"She plays really well. Do yew play an instrument?"

"As a matter of fact, I play a bass. But it's jus' a 'obby."

"Hey, well maybe we can start a band! Yew me and lil' luv, not sure if she'd go for it but..."

"A band? I don' 'ave time for a band and neither do yew."

"'Ow do yew know I don't 'ave time? Yew don't know wha' I do."

"I know enough to know you'd never be reliable enough to be in a band."

"Well I ain' talkin' abou' becoming the next Beatle Mania or nuffin, jus' sumfink to pass the time."

"Listen I got everything 'ere hooked up, so go ahead and get back in your car and I'll try-"

"I'm serious tho'! I kin sing! I kin sing really well!" Stuart grabbed him by the shoulders to try and raise his attention back to the band thing.

"Do you want to go home tonigh' or not?!"

"I think tomorrow is Saturday, and no one is busy on Saturdays. So yew shoul' come over and bring yewr fish, and we'll get to work."

"My what?"

"Yewr fish!"

"You mean my _bass?"_

"Yeah! Tha'!"

"Are yew jus' super bored or something?"

"Absolutely." Stuart looked down at the ground in shame,then looked back up at him. The man sighed and cocked his head to the side, thinking about it with an emotionless expression for a moment.

"Alrigh', fine. I'll do a jam session with you. But don't think I'm going to be this passive every weekend, alrigh'?"

"Yes! Now we jus' need to figure out a way to get Xia to come over an'..."

"Will you get in your flipping car already so I can jump start it?!"

"Oh, righ'." Stu jumped back into his seat and got ready to start it when the man said to, but as the other was getting ready to do the same, it ever so slowly began to drizzle.

And then it down poured.

The man facepalmed himself and sighed as he walked back over to Stu's car and opened the passengers side door before plopping himself down next to him and shutting himself in to avoid getting any more drenched.

"Wha' are yew doin'? I though' yew was gonna jump teh car?"

"Jumping a car in the rain isn't good for it, and your car needs no more damage done than it already has."

"Righ', an' yew can die too."

"You can't die, really, the battery isn' strong enough to kill you. Maybe give yeh a lit'el shock." He sighed and leaned his black sleeved arm upon the window, then proceeded to rest his head onto his palm. There was a sudden silence between the men as the rain poured down around them. The atmosphere was getting a little bit tense, at least for Stu it was, the other man seemed rather calm.

He tried thinking of something to say to him, something to ask him to keep the conversation going and prevent things from getting too awkward between them. Then he remembered, he never, _ever_ asked the mans name.

"So, uh... Wha' migh' yewr name be?" He asked repeating the same words he spoke to Xia a few days ago

"Murdoc, and you?"

"I'm Stuart. But, you can just call me Stu."

"I'd rather call you 2D boy." Murdoc chuckled as he looked at the man out of the corner of his eye, curious as to whether or not Stu was lucid enough to question it, after all, he didn't exactly prove to be the brightest star in the sky.

"Why do people keep calling me that? First Xia, an' now yew. I don' ge' it."

"Well, I don' know about 'er reasoning, but in my case, yor hands kinda look like the logo to the game company 2D Boy."

"They wha'?" Stuart quickly looked down at his hands, curious to what he meant by that. Then again, he didn't know anything about this logo they apparently resembled, so he had no clue what to look for.

"You never 'eard of World of Goo?"

"No."

"It was really popular around 2008. The company 2D Boy made it." Stuart was still confused, so he just nodded and pretended to know what Murdoc was saying to him.

Again, a vocal silence came over the car, and Stu was yet again waiting for something to start a conversation with. For a while they just sat there, the sudden quiet becoming incredibly nerve wrecking for the blue haired boy. His eyes darted around the car, searching for a good excuse to converse with his potential new friend.

He noticed the necklace that Murdoc was wearing, and decided to try and start a conversation from that.

"So... When did yew star' wearing necklaces?"

"What?" The random question seemed to awaken the man out of his deep thoughts, and he snapped his head over to Stu to try and figure out what he was talking about.

The boy pointed at his necklace, just in case Murdoc didn't actually hear him.

"My necklace? You mean when did I start wearing this?"

"Yeah."

"Oh. My father gave it to me before 'e died. I've worn it ever since."

"Was 'e a hippie?" Stu asked. Murdoc shot him a subtle glare then rolled his eyes before continuing.

"I suppose in a way, but 'e didn' like being called one and 'e didn't consider himself one. 'E just preferred everyone be peaceful with each other."

"What do yew believe?"

"What do I believe in what?"

"Everything. Wha's yewr opinion on yewr Da's life?"

"Oh, I think 'e had the right idea, but 'e didn't acknowledge tha' some people don't change. Some people don't want to be peaceable with one another. They like fighting. And as long as people like that exist, there will never be peace. I believe in Karma, to a degree. If you do good stuff, good stuff might happen to you in return. If you do bad stuff, the consequences might hit you eventually. But nothing is ever certain, which explains why a lot of really bad people are living comfortably and good people are on the streets poor as dogs. I find it unfair, but it's life. I did a lot of bad things in the past, and I only realized the consequences when I found myself behind a collection of iron bars."

"Wha's wrong with collectiong iron bars?" Stu asked with intrigue, totally captivated by his car mate at this point. Murdoc just looked at him with a face of utter disbelief in what he just said.

Originally thinking of correcting him by calling him an idiot, the man instead started laughing at Stu's remark, relating his innocence to that of a child.

"I was in jail, Stu."

"For collecting iron bars?!"

"No! I did bad stuff, forget about the iron bars, okay?"

"Oh... Di'... Di' yew, uh..." Stu got closer and looked around, as if checking to see if someone would be listening to what he said next. He then covered his mouth and whispered something completely inaudible.

"What?"

"Di' yew do bad stuff with the iron bars?" Murdoc facepalmed.

"Do you really wan' to know wha' I did?"

"Well, yes." Stu nodded, and the man sighed heavily before continuing.

"I ended up two people in the hospital, and one of them died."

"Yew killed a man?!"

"Hush up!" He stared at the surprised blue haired boy for a second before looking straight ahead and taking a deep breath. He then closed his eyes and continued in a cracked sort of voice.

"Look, I didn' mean to kill 'im. I pushed him in fron' of a car by accident and 'e got hit. He died two days later."

"Oh... What about the other guy?"

"The other one was a woman. My girlfriend at the time. I had caught her with the guy and lost my temper, and..." He stopped and looked off to the side, "Look, I barely know you, and you don't need to know this much about me. Just understand that I didn' 'ave a very good past and I plan to avoid remaking my mistakes."

"Oh. Sorry if I intruded."

"Well, now you know something almost no one knows about me. But if you tell anyone anything," Murdoc was right up in Stu's face at the point, giving him a serious look as he continued, "jus' know that I will find a way to make you wish you hadn't.." He suddenly smiled and patted his head rather roughly, leaving the man in a state of semi-terror. He leaned back into his chair and looked out the window, realizing that the sun had come out and the rain stopped up completely.

"Well well well, looks like we can finally go work on getting you back 'ome, righ'?"

"I guess so." Stu leaned back into his chair too, a look of shock over his face as he continued to think about all that Murdoc had told him. Granted he wasn't a _murderer, _but he did make a guy die, which is what murderers do, right?

He was so hung up on thought that he hadn't even realized that the other man already gotten out of the car and was now in his own, getting ready to go ahead and jump start Stu's.

"Go ahead and turn your engine on!" Stu complied and the car finally started up, a relief to the man who really just wanted to go back to bed right around now.

Murdoc came over and unhooked the jump start cables from both cars, put the hoods down and went ahead and put the cables back in his trunk. He then waved goodbye to the man he just helped, and the two headed their opposite ways.

* * *

**If you haven't guessed yet, I'm a big Beatles fan. So, throughout this fanfic you shall find more and more Beatles references, probably (This will also probably be due to the fact that I think Murdoc looks like a rejected Beatle.)**

**Anyhow that's not important.**

**What's important is this.**

**For some reason I felt like I'd get flamed big time if I changed Murdoc this much, he's almost the complete opposite of his original personality. But, the reason for this will indeed be explained eventually, since I kinda sort of know where I'm going with this at this point, (Still no clue how it will end) but if you suddenly don't like this fanfic anymore, well... I guess just don't read it then. Or stick with it and see if it gets better (Everything gets better if you stare at it long enough!)**

**Again, I'll express this to you, I have a little fear of flames without significant reason (Like instead of critiquing my actual writing, my story is being criticized because something unpleasant happened) and the last few times this happened to me (Twice I was flamed kind of harshly for not going along with a yaoi ship that was highly liked in that fandom) it kind of made me not want to write much anymore. Granted I got over it, and I'm stronger now, but I felt like sharing that with you.**

**Well, until next time, my lovely readers, (Cookies and tea for every reviewer! If you don't want tea you get extra cookies.) **

**-The Symmetricalist**


	5. Rum Run

**Ello everyone!**

**Sorry I haven't updated in, what, two months? My absence is only halfway justified though. Half the reason as to why I haven't been writing pretty much at all (Skip if you don't want to hear me ramble, I just felt like explaining some things, I'll understand if you move on.) is because I have come down with a literal mystery disease that no doctors can figure out. It has put me out of commission for a lot of things I love to do, but thankfully the docs have found a medicine that, although it makes me sky high, has diminished at least the symptoms until my next set of testing is through and they can come one step closer to figuring out what I have.**

**The other half of my absence is due to the fact that I've been a lazy writer lately and simply haven't had enough brain power to continue this story.**

**Also since I have no Internet on my computer, this is being done on my phone.**

**But after getting the news that I'm done with my GED classes and am now on the next step in optaining my GED, I figure it's about darn time I continue this thing!**

**So enjoy chapter 5!**

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**Chapter 5**

**Rum Run**

"Yew mean to tell me tha' you really 'ave no beer in this house at all?" Murdoc peeked his head into Stuart's fridge, searching for some sort of alcoholic beverage, be it beer or rum. Stu just shrugged his shoulders as he set up his keyboard in the living room and ignored the tiny internal crisis that his mate was going through at the moment.

"Nope. Can't do it." The raven haired man spoke monotonously as he closed the fridge door and shook his head.

"Can' do wha'?"

"I can't play with yew if I don' 'ave at least a glass of rum in me."

"Why no'?"

"Usually I'm fine but I 'ave too much on my min' today. I can't do it."

"Oh, so you're an alcoholic?"

"No I jus' don't want to be able to think."

"So yew wan' to ge' drunk?"

"Yes, actually. Sounds lovely righ' abou' now. Come on, le's go grab some beer and some good rum, I'll buy." Murdoc was already heading towards the door, his car keys in hand as Stuart tried to understand why he wanted alcohol so badly.

"Wai'! Yew jus' wanna leave? I though' we were gonna jam?"

"I alrea'y tol' yew I can' today if I don't have some good rum, now are yeh comin' or am I raiding the liquor shop on my own?" He shot Stu a daring glare, which the blue haired man took into consideration as he made a decision.

"Alrigh', I'll come."

"Excellen'. I'll drive." The two men headed out the door and got into the little black Volkswagen, and afterwards quickly went on their way to the closest liquor shop.

It was a quiet car ride for the most part. There was no laughing or blasting of music or any signs of a good time, even though these things are exactly what you'd expect of two men who were on a mission for finding alcohol.

Stuart figured that at least turning up the tunes would make things less awkward between the two of them, so he took one look at the radio, and realized there was not one. There was simply a gaping hole with a few wires hanging out, and a "Black Ice" air freshener hanging from one of them.

It somewhat explained why there was no music playing.

"Wot 'appened 'ere?" Stuart pointed to the missing radio, confused, as he didn't realize you could just take one out without heavily damaging anything.

"It got stolen a few months back. I didn' 'ave the money to get it replaced so it stayed that way." Murdoc replied, not even bothering to look over at the hole where the radio was, as everyone who has been in his car over the past months has asked the same exact question.

"Don' you wanna fin' ou' who di' et?"

"No. I figure if they were truly desperate enough to steal a crappy radio, then they must 'ave really needed the money. And if they weren' desperate and just wanted to be a-holes, then karma is gonna bite them where it hurts. Maybe."

Stuart slunk back into his seat and looked down at his phone. He did have a few songs on it that he could play in replacement of turning on the radio, and his phone did get pretty loud, loud enough to be heard by the entire car, but whether or not Murdoc would appreciate that, well, he figured maybe.

But instead of outright asking if he could play music, just to erase any doubt that maybe the driver of the vehicle would not enjoy his musical selection and may end up throwing him out of the moving car, Stuart simply hit the play button and allowed the phone to pick a song at random to start blasting. The song it decided to blast was called "PonPonPon", which is a very annoying song if you're just someone who doesn't understand.

"Wot is tha', wha' are yew playing?"

"I'm playin' a song since yew don' 'ave a radio."

"Did I say you could play a song? Wot even is this?!"

"It's PonPonPon!"

"It's annoying, turn it off."

"Why?"

"Because it's annoying! I don' even know wha' she's sayin'!"

"She's sayin' lets all run into the street and hold hands and be happy!"

"She's making me want to run into a street, alrigh', but not to be happy. Turn it off, 2D boy."

"Alrigh', how about' Numa Numa."

"Do you 'ave any songs that are in English?"

"I 'ave Numa Numa in English."

"No, like rock. Do you 'ave any good rock songs?"

"Rock? Like, stones?"

"You mean the Rolling Stones?"

"Ohhh, I ge' it now! Rock and roll is a thing, and the rolling stones are rocks that roll!"

"Do yew 'ave 'em or not?"

"No I don'."

"If yew don' 'ave any good music, don't play music at all, alrigh'?" Stuart turned off the music on his phone and sulked.

"Alrigh'."

"Good. Now look, we're here." Murdoc was about to get out of the car when he looked over and realized Stuart was frozen stiff. He couldn't even tell if the man was breathing.

"Ey, yew alrigh'?" He had his eyes locked onto something, and his cheeks were flushed and red as tomatoes. He wouldn't say a word and had no response.

Murdoc snapped his fingers in front of Stuart to try and get him out of it, but it didn't seem like it was working.

"Di' yew see a hot bird or something'? Why are yew so flustered?"

"It's her."

"Her who?"

"Look! It's lil' Xia." Stuart pointed to her, the little Japanese girl who was wearing a similar outfit to the one she wore when they first met.

"Yeah, wha' about 'er?"

"She.. She's with a guy." Stuart looked down and Murdoc looked over at the girl to see her standing next to a large, dark skinned, bald man, who was smiling and showing her something on his phone.

"And?"

"An' tha's probably 'er boyfrien'!"

And?"

"An' they are probably gonna get hitched and have lots of li'el kids together and I'll die alone!"

"Listen to me, Stuart. Are yew seriously telling me that yew imagined yourself married to a girl you've barely known a week?"

"Yes… I, I mean no! I jus' like 'er is all."

"Liking 'er is fine, but don't go setting your heart on the girl!"

"I bought 'er a guitar."

"That's nice," Murdoc said sarcastically, "now get your arse out of the car and help me pick out rum."

Stuart sighed, but hesitantly obeyed the intimidating man and shakily removed himself from the car seat and out onto the pavement of the parking lot.

He tried not to look at the girl, the girl who he indeed had developed a crush on, and instead followed Murdoc into the liquor store.

"Hey, 2D boy!" Stuart heard the girls voice, and quickly turned around to see her coming towards him.

"What? Did you not recognize me here despite the fact that you are always stalking me?"

"Wa', wot do yew mean?"

"Please, you act like you don't stare me down every day at the education center. Come here, I want you to meet a friend of mine." She grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the large man whom was leaning up against a white truck.

Stuart's gut trembled at the thought of meeting the man who was probably her boyfriend, and he quickly turned around to see if Murdoc was standing by the door waiting for him, or on his way to rescue him from this embarrassing predicament. But the man was nowhere to be seen, instead he was already inside browsing the wide selection of liquid courage and ignoring the fact that his blue haired mate was not right behind him.

The man instead sucked up his fear and stood tall in front of the noticeably bigger man, who, despite his probable ability to break Stuart's neck at any given time, seemed rather pleasant and friendly.

"2D boy, I'd like you to meet Russell, we have been friends since I was a little girl. Russell, this is the man who gave me that lovely gift."

"You're the one who gave baby girl that guitar?"

"Wot?! 'Ow do yew know it was me?!"

"I saw you leave from behind the tree right after I got it."

"Yew, yew di'? Bu' I waite' until yew alrea'y walked away teh leave."

"I turned around and saw you. I have to admit, it's creepy that you watch me, but your gesture was kind. And you do not seem too creepy yourself. You're just different."

"But I wanna remind you that if you do get creepy, ever, I'll be right here to remind you to not be."

Stuart felt relieved, but also a little nervous. But at least they had established the fact that Russell was not Xia's boyfriend. Which meant she was single. Which was a good thing to Stu.

"Hey, Noods, I'm gonna run inside and get a pack of beer before we go, you alright out here?"

"I'm good, I want to talk to Stu for a moment."

"Alright baby girl." With that he headed into the store, leaving the two behind.

"Why di' 'e call yew Noods just now?"

"That's just a shortening of his name for me. He calls me Noodle."

"Why?"

"When I was a little girl it was the only word I could say in English. He has called me that ever since."

"Tha's cute! So Noodle, di' yew like the-" Stuart was cut off by a sudden punch to the stomach.

"I did not say you could call me that. I said Russell calls me that."

"Righ'… So, where are yew two goin' today? Somewhere fun?"

"Is that really any of your business?" She glared at him for a moment, and he silently took note of the fact that her bangs were parted in a way that you could see her eyes, which is different from the way she wore them in class.

"Nah, I don' fink it is. I was jus' curious. Yew don' 'ave teh tell me."

"We are going to the park to play a gig tonight."

"A gig? Like, play music?"

"Yes, Russell and I are in a band together. It's me, him, and a few other people. We aren't big or anything, but we play at the park every Saturday night."

"Kin I come watch yew play?"

"I suppose if you would like to. After the gig we usually sit around and talk while drinking a few beers. I don't usually participate, but the rest of the group likes it."

"Well, I'll be there! And I'll bring some soda so yew don' 'ave to drink the beer with the rest of em!" Stuart glowed with a weird, yet endearing, happily stupid grin, and while it seemed so childish to the young woman in front of him, it also at the same time made her grin herself and even chuckle a bit.

"Baby girl!" Russell came running out of the store like a mad man, clutching two cases of beer under one arm and holding out a cell phone in his free hand.

"What is wrong?" Xia asked, concerned with the look on his face.

"Red says he can't make it tonight, he broke his arm after falling off a chair while doing some stupid trick on the spiral staircase! We're out a keyboard player!"

"The show can go on without a keyboard player, it's not-"

"I'll do it!" Stuart shot up his hand quicker than lightning, more than eager to help.

"You play the keyboard?" Xia asked, really hoping and praying that he wasn't simply trying to helpful and he actually knew how to play.

"Yeah! Been playin' since I was a kid!"

"But do you just play, or are you good at playing?" Russell asked as he opened the car door and plopped the packs of beer inside.

"Well me mom sai' I coul' be teh nex' Owl City if I really applie' meself." Stuart tapped his index fingers together and looked at the two of them simultaneously.

"We're gonna need more beer." Russell was about to walk off when he saw a small cart filled to the sky with different alcohols, in fact, it was so filled that you couldn't even see the person pushing it.

"2D! I tol' yeh to come in and 'elp me! Where the bloo'y 'ell were yew!?" The cart seemed to say as it rolled up to them. Stuart was fascinated with the talking cart and bent down to talk to it.

"'Ello, misteh car', 'ave yew seen meh frien' Muh'doc? 'E wen' in the liquor store and never came ou'. Di' yew eat 'im?"

"Stuart!" Murdoc came around from the side, and placed his hands on his hips.

"'Ey there yew are! I was worried tha' misteh car' ate you."

"Quit being a dumb bloke alrea'y, I though' yew were trying to avoid this li'el lady 'ere." The man turned towards Xia, who was now giggling and smiling at something.

"Wot's so funny, Xia?" Stuart turned to her, and she pointed to the cart behind them. The two men turned around and saw the cart flying down the parking lot, heading straight for a red Mustang that was parked just outside the store.

Murdoc's eyes went wide and he chased after it as fast as he humanly could, Stuart following close behind as they tried getting to the cart before it hit the car.

However, they weren't quite as quick as they had to be. The cart slammed into the beautiful paint job, leaving a dent and sending many cases of liquor flying onto the roof. As if this situation could not possibly get any worse, Stuart looked inside the car to reveal to himself that there was a man inside, who was now getting out to inspect the damage.

The man, who had a snow white mustache the size of a small rodent upon his upper lip, a pair of rectangular glasses upon his eyes, and a black business suit covering up his large figure, came around the corner of the car to see the two men, one standing there doing nothing and the other on the ground, crying over his lost liquor and the fact that he's going to be dead depending upon the mercy of the owner of the car.

"Mr. Niccals!" Murdoc's head shot up as he saw a familiar man shaking his head in front of him, rage flowing throughout his face.

"Rob! I-I can explain!"

"How many times have I told you to address me properly?" The man said angrily. Murdoc gulped, got to his feet and hoped he'd somehow, by a miracle, get out of this alive.

"Mr. Johnson, I can explain all of this."

"Start explaining then!"

"Me and my pal 'ere were buying some liquor for a charity event tonigh', bu' as I was about' to begin loading the car, the cart rolled off and…"

"That's quite enough, I have a meeting to get to at three and I don't have the time to be hearing your excuses. You'll be doing overtime with no pay until the damages have been repaired. I hope we are at an agreement?"

"Yes sir."

"Excellent. Now clean this up so I can leave. And don't leave any more damages, understood?"

"Yes, Mr. Johnson." The man immediately pulled out his cell phone and walked away from the two, chatting away at someone as he waited for the liquor to be cleaned off of the top of his car.

Murdoc gave the man a dirty glare the minute he knew he wasn't looking, and began cleaning up the bottles and broken pieces of glass that were on top of the car. Stuart helped as well, placing all of the bottles that were still fully intact back inside of the cart.

"So, 'ow do yew know 'im?"

"'E's my boss. Yew really couldn't guess that?"

"I guess I kind of di'."

"Yeah, 'e's a big arse, so I don' 'ave too much remorse for him. As far as I'm concerned, 'e deserved this li'el crack in his otherwise perfect day."

"Righ', you're inteh karma an' all tha'."

"Yep, sometime's it does me well and other times it jus' seems to fail. But nothing is perfect. After I pay this off I'll be laughing my arse off abou' it."

"You shoul' keep thinking that way. It's positive."

"It's something."

The two finished up and started on their way towards the car, this time not letting the cart out of their sight for a second. Murdoc opened up the trunk and started to load it up, box by box and bottle by bottle, while Stu more or less just stared at Russell's truck and wondered why they were inside conversing and not on their way to the park.

On closer inspection, it looked like Xia, or Noodle as he now seemed to know her, was shaking her head no and crying. She was crying again? But she had seemed so happy just a few moments ago.

"'Ey! 'Elp me out 'ere, will ya!?" Stu looked back at the man, who also seemed to notice that she was upset and having a fit about something, but tried to ignore it anyway.

_A few moments earlier._

"I got a text from my father just now."

"What's he telling you, baby girl?"

"No, he… He's saying I need to be home tonight…"

"Well, maybe I should take you back then-"

"No! I need to go!"

"Noods, we can get Paula to play guitar tonight, it's no biggie."

"No, I'm not letting him ruin my life again. This is the only thing he lets me do that isn't education centered. He ruined last week for me, he's not doing it again this week."

"Are you sure? I don't want you getting in trouble."

"I don't care if I get in trouble. I need to do this. For me."

"Alright, I'll trust you on this one. But if you really gotta go, we'll go, alright?

"Just drive, Russell."

* * *

**Forgive me for the obvious fact that I'm not staying consistent with accents. The autocorrect on my word processor will change things back to the way they are meant to be as I type, which is good in some cases, but bad when you purposefully want to write "teh" instead of "the". Also, any constructive criticism you may have for me, I will take it, all of it, I crave it. It lets me know you're interested enough in the story to care enough to help me make it better, as well as helping me in my writing in general.**

**I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and look forward to more as I plan to be updating more frequently now that I'm less busy and feeling a lot better!**

**Til next time,**

**~TheSymmetricalist**


	6. The One They Call Sparkles

**This chapter is, in no way shape or form, meant to be taken seriously.**

**One of my best friends in the entire world demanded that I add him into a chapter. I complied, and tried to make it as interesting as possible, without getting too odd or crazy and keeping it as realistic as possible.**

**I failed miserably at two of those parts, which ones you'll soon see, but I believe I kept it real as this truly is probably how he'd act if he ever met 2D and Murdoc in real life.**

**And Sparky-san, if you're reading this and you despise how I made you act, deal with it, you know you love it ;)**

**P.S. Sparky may become a frequent visitor depending upon whether or not I survive after posting this.**

* * *

"And again from the top!" Murdoc shouted, raising his right hand to the sky while holding a half empty beer, and with the other hand sloppily holding up the neck of his bass.

"From teh top of wot?" Stu asked from behind his keyboard, his long fingers gently tapping the ivory keys for no apparent reason.

"The song, yew dullard."

"Idunno, Muds. I tol' Noo- I mean, Xia, that I'd be at 'er gig tonigh'. I still 'ave to pick up some soda too." Stuart walked away from the keyboard and grabbed his phone from off the kitchen table so that he could check the time.

"A gig? Tha' li'el bird is in a band?"

"Yeah, with Russell."

"Who's Russell?" Murdoc placed down his beer on a random side table and crossed his arms.

"Her frien'."

"Yew mean the one yew freaked out abou' and nearly 'ad a panic attack over?"

"I didn' nearly 'ave a panic attack, Muds," Stu shot him a clever smirk, to which Murdoc raised an eyebrow at, "Alrigh' maybe I did. Bu' they aren' datin'."

"Well wha' time is the gig at?"

"Idunno, she just said tonight at the park. And soda."

"She said bring soda?"

"No, I sai' bring soda."

"What?" There was suddenly a knock at the door, and before anyone could even flinch at the sound, it was followed by several loud bangs, and a few ringings of the doorbell.

"Idunno if I should answer tha'." Stu said nervously as he slowly made his way behind the table and hid as the banging continued.

"Well if you won', I will, they're being an awful nuisance." Murdoc walked over to the door, his bass still secured around his shoulder, the neck of it hitting the wall several times as the slightly drunken man walked over to the door and struggled with the knob before opening it up and revealing a very tall man of a fair complexion with dirty blond hair, hazel colored almond eyes, and without even a minute having gone by, he gave the obvious impression that he was a nudist, due to the fact that he was wearing nothing but black boxer shorts covered in tiny pink mustaches, and a little tiny ribbon across his chest.

"Hi there." The man said, stretching out his hand while giving a big goofy grin. Murdoc just stared at him, either the mix of rum and alcohol was giving him vivid hallucinations, or there really was a half naked man at the door.

Then again, as far as Murdoc knew, this could be a friend of Stu's.

"'Ey 2D boy! Do you know this bloke?" He shouted over his shoulder at the younger man, who then took one look at the guy at the door, and ran upstairs as fast as he possibly could.

"Sugar lips! Wait!" The half naked man shouted as he tried running into the house. Murdoc held out his bass to try and keep him from coming any further, but the taller man simply giggled before picking up the bassist and flinging him over his shoulder, ignoring the fact that the guitar was now shoved directly under the half naked man's neck, and he proceeded to run into the house and up the stairs, totally ignoring the shouts of "Put me down this instant you weirdo!" which were emitting from the man he had forcibly picked up.

"I deman' to know what the bloo'y 'ell yew are doing!" Murdoc shouted, finally seeming to receive an answer from the man who then responded with,

"Shhhh, we're hunting Honey Buns!"

"WHO ARE YOU?!"

"Honey buns knows who I am!" The man proceeded to run down the hallway all the way to Stu's room, to which he then proceeded to bang on the door of, and then wait a few seconds before he ripped the bass off of Murdoc's shoulders and smashed the door in with it.

"Honey buns! I'm home!" The man shouted as he ran at Stu who was trying to hide behind a small teddy bear. Murdoc was still in the hallway, trying to process all of this and at the same time inspect his beloved bass guitar for any signs of obvious damage, which to his displeasure, there was a lot of it.

"Why did you leave me, honey buns? You know Mr. Bunny has missed you so much, he hasn't been the same while hugging random people at Wal-Mart since you left us!"

"Teh atmosphere was getting a li'el, eh, suffocating, yew know?" Stuart nervously chuckled as the man started gently grabbing locks of his hair and smelling them.

Murdoc then came to his senses and entered the room, rage flowing throughout his features as he quickly sobered up and held his broken bass in his shaking hands, looking like he just walked out of the depths of hell.

"Nude boy!" He shouted, which straightened the young man up into a soldier stance almost immediately.

"Hai!"

"I wan' to know your bloo'y name, I wan' to know where you bloo'y came from, and I wan' you to buy me a new bass before I break your bloo'y li'el face! Are we understood?!"

"You say bloody a lot, are you PMSing?" Murdoc swung back the remains of his guitar and was about to swing it forward onto the man with the strength of an angry bull before Stuart ran to him and held him off, trying to ensure that there would be no fatalities tonight.

"It's alrigh', Muds! This is Sparky, he's an ol' frien' uh mine."

"I WANT HIM DEAD."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Dead! Are you a sort of Neanderthal? Your last sentence wasn't very grammatically accurate." Sparky said, holding his hand out to the boiling red man in an invitation to a handshake.

"Sparky, this is Muh'doc, 'e's a li'el cranky righ' now because yew managed teh scare 'im teh death, freak 'im out, and break 'is bass all in a matter uh seconds. But 'e'll calm down eventually."

"I had a cat like that once. Mom killed it." Sparky said sadly as he looked down at his hands. Stuart came to his side and placed a hand upon his shoulder.

"I know, Sparky. It was a hard time on all of us."

"Not mom. She laughed."

"Wait, yew two know each other?" Murdoc asked, believing 100% that he was the only sane person in the room at that point.

"Yeah! We go back like four months!" Sparky put a hand on Stu's shoulder and shook him a little, the shorter man seeming oddly calm in comparison to the way he was acting less than five minutes ago.

"Then Stu, if this is normal behavior for your li'el friend, why the bloo'y 'ell di' yew run away from 'im?!"

"Because if I didn' 'ave tiddy bear to block Sparky's 'ug, well I migh' 'av died, I would'uv!" There was an awkward silence between the three men for a moment, glances being exchanged between them, goofy smiles coming and going from two of them at least three times for no apparent reason, all while Murdoc provided a stark contrast to the happy stupidity that the other two men seemed to share. It went on like this for a while, when finally Sparky spoke up.

"Hey, I came here to get my clothes back. You took them when you left a few weeks ago."

"I di'? Sorry, they must've gotten mixed up with mine."

"Well, we always were twinsies."

"Jus' check the closeh' for 'em." Stuart pointed to the closet, and the half naked man pranced over to the doors, opening them both with one swift motion and proceeding to take out half the wardrobe, not even checking to see if the clothes were his or not. He took a blue shirt, which was obviously far too small for him, and squeezed it over his head and onto his body, ignoring the fact that it was super tight and didn't even reach below his stomach.

"Awh, Stuie! You didn't have to go buy me a crop top! And in my favorite color too." The man said as he proceeded to go ahead and grab a part of pants that were also obviously too small for him.

"I didn' buy you a crop top, bu' okay." Stu said submissively, trying to smile at Murdoc to see if his sour mood had softened up a bit. The slight showing of the man's oddly shaped teeth was enough to say that the feeling hadn't subsided and he still wanted to murder everyone in the room.

"Alright, I think this is all I have. You got any plans tonight, Stu?" Sparky came over holding a big pile of clothing, almost none of it seeming to be his, and for once seemed to say something that could border on normal.

"Actually yeah, I'm gonna go see a frien' of mine play in 'er band!"

"Oh. Okay." With that he walked out of the room, away from all the turmoil he had just caused, and out of sight of the two men.

"I want. Him. Dead."

"He's not tha' ba' once yew ge' teh know 'im! We were roommate's a few months back, us and the Easter Bunny. An' 'is mum. 'E makes grea' chocolate cake!"

"'E's gonna make a good Bloo'y Mary when I'm done with him."

"Nah, 'e makes a better spiked Lemonade. Really goo' stuff. Won' remember a thing after one or two sips, bu' you'll 'ave a goo' time! Or a 'orrible, terrible time, won' make a difference after you wake up wearing nothing but a pool noodle on the side of the road with a man named Quack and a woman dressed as a banshee named Claudia."

"Wha' the 'ell are you talking abou'?

"Idunno. 'Ey, le's ge' oveh to tha park, Xia's show might' be starting. An' I still nee' the soda!"

* * *

**So, it's simply a fill in chapter, a little fun, a little crazy, a good excuse to grab a beer…**

**Next chapter will be important and actually have a good deal to do with my plot. Without fill in chapters, I'd probably shoot myself with a potato canon. They're a good excuse to just keep typing with no disregard for what the heck you're actually typing.**

**R&amp;R!**

**Until next time, my potatlings!**

**-The Symmetricalist**


	7. His Little Maggie May

**Hi everyone!**

**I'm back with another chapter. My muse for this story has been really intense lately and I've even begun dreaming up new scenarios while I sleep. This thing has become pretty important to me and I want to make it the best I can, so thank you to anyone who has read this far!**

**There is a scene, probably in the middle, that was inspired by Blur's version of the song Maggie May. If you have never heard their version of it, look it up either before or after you read this, it's really quite good!**

**Enjoy the story and pretty please R&amp;R!**

* * *

***~*~*Chapter 7*~*~***

***~*~*His Little Maggie May*~*~***

It was nearing 6:30 PM, and the sun was just beginning to set over the park downtown, coating every wilting tree and blade of dying golden grass with a soft, orange hue. In the middle of the park stood a small, yet convenient, circular stage, and it was surrounded by a small crowd of people, families and couples and friends who all had laid out little blankets and folding chairs and coolers beside them. Everyone was smiling, children were playing tag and adults were laughing over cold beer and soda, lovers were sweet talking, and a few were having their first dates.

It was a pleasurable, relaxing atmosphere. Everyone was just ready to sit back and have a good time before the daily grind began again.

And in walks our protagonist, who was blasting his classic tune "PonPonPon" from his cell phone in one hand, and carrying a small case of soda in the other, all while following around his still rather ticked off friend while insisting that he simply doesn't understand the message behind the happy song and that he really should sit down and watch the video.

"Really, Muds! If you'd jus' giv' t'is song a chance I know yew woul' luv eht, yew woul'!"

"If yew play tha' song one more time I'm shovin' tha' infernal device down your throat."

"Hmm, migh' no' be such a bad idea, I wouldn' lose it anymore." The two soon came to a spot right next to the stage, far enough away from all the families with little kids, who would no doubt become an unintended nuisance during the show. Murdoc turned to Stu and realized something that they totally forgot about.

"2D, di' yew bring any blankets teh sit on?"

"Nope." Stu responded. Murdoc sighed heavily and sat down on the grass, trying to not lose his cool and just enjoy the night.

"Well, we're goin' teh be leaving with some grassy asses lateh tonigh'."

"I didn' know yew spoke Spanish."

"What?"

"Look! There's people settin' up stuff on stage! They're prolly wit' Xia!" Stu pointed at the two people excitedly, anticipating the moment when Xia actually comes out and starts playing her guitar, the one thing he loved watching her do. Not that he watched her do a lot of things.

"Yeah, tha's lovely. Kin yew give me a beer?"

"I didn' bring beer. I brought soda."

"Yew brought no beer? None?"

"Nope."

"Even though I handed you two cases and said "Put these in the car"?"

"I didn' bring any."

"Wha' di' yew do with the cases then?!"

"Idunno."

"Yew don' know wha' yew di' with two bloo'y cases of beer?!"

"… I remembered teh soda…" Stu whimpered out while holding up the cans of soda with both hands, as if it would help the situation he had found himself in. Murdoc gave out an annoyed grunt and raised himself up from off the ground.

"I'm going to go find beer. If the show ends and I'm not back, I'm either dead, passed out, or making out with a hot bird." He started heading off into a randomly selected direction, intently searching to see if he could find A. a group of hot girls in bikinis, B. people with far too much beer who need help drinking it all, or C. a group of hot girls in bikinis who have far too much beer and need help drinking it all. Considering that this was a family park, and this was the middle of December, A and C seemed like they'd be farfetched ideas. But Murdoc tried anyway.

"'E mus' really luv chicken if 'e wan's teh make ou' wit' one." Stu whispered as he watched the man leave, ignoring the fact that someone was coming up behind him, slowly and quietly, and within an instant had their tiny hands reaching up to cover his eyes.

"Hand over the soda and no one gets hurt." A familiar, feminine voice said to him, which caused the startled man to giggle and smile as he realized who it was.

He turned around and went a little red at seeing how close she was to him, which she quickly noticed and took a step back to make the distance less weird. She smiled at him, looking happier than she had in all the days and hours that he had known her.

"'Ello Xia!"

"'Ello, Stalkeh Stuart." She giggled at her own imitation of his accent, and he internally sighed thinking about how adorable her laugh was.

"I brough' yew some soda." Stu held up the soda again.

"Nice. I'm going to need some if I'm to get through tonight with my eyes still open." She grabbed one of the soda's from the batch he was holding, and quickly removed it from the little plastic holder thing. For a split second, their fingers touched, and he blushed just the tiniest bit more, hoping that tonight would end with a hug from her, a nice, warm hug.

Speaking of warmth, he was cold.

Oh yeah, he didn't bring a jacket.

"So, uh, yew guys still nee' someone to play teh keyboar'?" He asked just as she had cracked open the soda and began gulping it down.

"Nah, none of the songs we are playing tonight require one."

"Goo', because I forgo' mine."

"Looks like you forgot a jacket too," She reached out one of her hands and touched his arm, noting the goosebumps on his slender limb before continuing, "aren't you cold?"

"A li'el now tha' I realize eht." Actually, he was feeling quite warm from her touch. If she just held his hand all night, he wouldn't need a jacket. Then again, he'd probably overestimate the friendly warmth and suffer from hypothermia before long, but at least he'd be pretty happy up until then.

"Well, I'll go see if my friend Danny has a jacket you can borrow. He plays bass in the band and usually doesn't wear one when it's cold out, he says the music keeps him warm." She walked off towards two people, one with dark hair who was holding a small bass guitar, and a young lady who was talking to him. Stu looked on, and admitted to himself that he felt a tiny twinge of uneasiness from her calling another boy her friend.

No, he shouldn't feel this way, he knew that. So he tried to shake it off. Tried really hard to, he did. But it wasn't leaving. He only knew her a little while, if he counted all the time he spent looking at her each day, it probably wouldn't even amount to a full 24 hours. Yet somehow, this sweet little guitarist seemed to have a tiny part of his heart glued to her, and he couldn't get it back no matter how hard he fought the feeling.

Before long he found himself staring into his reflection on a can of soda that he held in his hand, not even noticing that his little love had returned with a big leather jacket.

"Here you go! He says to just be sure you have it back by the end of the show, okay?" She placed it on his outstretched arm and grabbed the sodas he was still holding for some reason so that he'd be able to put it on.

"Fanks, luv." He mumbled, a sad look on his face as he faked a smile and put the warm jacket on over his tiny body.

"Hey, you okay?" She sensed something was wrong and placed a reassuring hand upon his shoulder. She was being a little touchy tonight, he really liked it.

"Yeah, I'm fine…" A sudden thought crossed his mind, maybe he should ask her out? It was risky, yeah, but maybe she'd say yes. He'd never know if he didn't try.

A sudden bout of bravery came over him and he decided yes, yes he would ask. He'd ask her out on a date, next Friday, maybe at a pizza joint or Taco Bell or something, he didn't know for sure yet but he'd think the details over later.

"Are you sure? You look like you're thinking really deeply on something."

"Hey woul' you like to go-"

"Hey Xia! We're about to go on!" The young man, who he guessed to be Danny, called out to her from his place next to the stage. Russell was behind him, holding a set of drum sticks.

"Oh, we'll talk later, okay 2D boy?"

"Yeah, yeah we'll tal' lateh. Good luck." He said with a melancholic tone, but also with a big goofy smile on his face, his signature expression.

"Thanks!" She took one last gulp of the soda she had grabbed earlier before placing it in a conveniently placed trashcan near the stage, then taking off towards her other band mates. Stuart sat down on the grass, waiting for the show to begin as he cracked open a soda himself and looked to the side to see Murdoc sitting next to a young woman with very short blonde hair. She had a gorgeous body, and found a way to show it off despite it being pretty cold outside. He giggled as he realized something, that was the girl who always sat next to Murdoc during class. The girl who he said helped him with the tests.

The girl he said he liked, but who would never like him back because she already had a boyfriend.

Stu sighed and turned back to the stage, a small fire starting in his chest as he saw his little love, the girl with the guitar, the girl he'd rather call Noodle than Xia for some reason, up on stage, her guitar, the guitar he gave her, in hand, proudly being played and creating a melody in tune to the other instruments. She smiled heavily and danced about as much as she could without losing rhythm, and as the song that started so intensely slowed down and allowed for a singer's turn to add to the music, she chimed into the microphone, allowing a melodious sound to flow out of her mouth.

Stu about fainted, he didn't know she could sing too! He sighed happily and closed his eyes, mentally jumping and dancing upon every word she sang. He didn't know the song, it must have been something original from their band, but he knew without a doubt that this right here was his favorite song in the entire world.

Another song came, this time with their bassist, Danny, singing. At times a duet would come along, but Xia and Danny didn't have much chemistry, so it simply didn't seem to be sung quite right. Stu thought to himself that maybe he could sing better than Danny, because lets face it, that guy can't sing.

Around five songs went by, all originals, and the man named Danny came up to his microphone and asked if the audience would like to pick a song.

"I have one!" A little girl shot her hand up, and Danny pointed to her with a smile.

"What would you like to hear us play, sweetheart?"

"I want you to play Maggie May, but you stink at singing. Find someone else to do the words, okay Mr. Guitarist?" So Stu wasn't the only person who thought that that guy sucked eggs.

"Well, I very much doubt our lovely Xia would want to sing that song. And young lady, this is a bass, not a guitar. I'm a bassist."

"You're a suckist." The little girl shouted in a sassy tone.

"Excuse me?!"

"I kin sing!" Stu raised his hand, seeing his chance to be up there with Xia.

"You can?" Danny asked, hesitant about letting some random guy up there to sing. Xia face palmed, having a feeling that he'd do this, yet finding it endearing anyway. That guy just always wanted to help.

"Well yew kin tes' ou' meh voice an' see if yew like eht before I do anyfink."

"Come up and let's hear you out then, man!" Russell shouted from the stage. The little girl looked over at the blue haired man, who was now getting up from the grass and heading over to the stage.

"He can't be any worse than you, Mr. Guitarist."

"Alright whoever owns this tiny Queen of Sass, please contain her little hateful mouth, alright?" Danny asked as Xia chuckled from the bold girl's teasing.

"Let's see what you got, 2D boy." Xia said as Stu stepped up onto the stage and twiddled his fingers nervously.

"Alrigh', well, I go' kind uh a 'igh voice, bu' I kin go somefink lioke t'is.." Stu began singing a random song, one that was sweet and showed off his pure, unique, yet simplistic voice. Xia smiled and looked at Danny, who also smiled before saying,

"You're in."

"I am? Really?" Stu smiled at those words and awaited more to follow.

"Yeah, you know the song Maggie May, right?"

"Yep."

"Well get up there to that mic and have at it!" Danny pointed to a corded microphone that was on the ground at the front of the stage. Stu turned around and walked over to it, picking it up with a shaky hand before standing straight and looking out at the people… lots and lots of people…

He felt like he was going to be sick.

But then Xia started strumming the familiar tune, and the words came to the man they all now called 2D boy, so he closed his eyes and let his inner rock star out.

"Wake up Maggie I think I got something to say to you

It's late September and I really should be back at school

I know I keep you amused

but I feel I'm being used

Oh Maggie I couldn't have tried any more

You lured me away from home

just to save you from being alone

You stole my heart and that's what really hurt."

The rest of the night went on beautifully. Stu sang a few more songs with them, "Silly Love Songs" being one of them, which Xia happily lended her voice to, which made our little protagonist shine with delight. This was the absolute best night of his life, he didn't want it to end. Ever.

The band played one more song without Stu before ending their little show and packing up their instruments for the night. Families started leaving, all of them tired but happy that they got to enjoy some nice music in a beautiful setting with people who they love and cherish.

Stu looked around for his ride, who was no where to be seen despite his little friend being on her way out. He decided that he'd search for him later, and if worst came to worst, he could just hitch a ride with Russell and Xia.

Stu was suddenly greeted with a big hug from out of nowhere, and when he looked down, he was elated to see that it was Xia.

"You did so amazingly great! Thank you!" She pulled away her warm body, her hands still wrapped around his waist. They looked into each others eyes without realizing it, both of them smiling widely.

"I, I di'?"

"Yes! Are you kidding? Danny could never sing like that. We all want you in the band permanently!"

"I… I'd luv to!" He leaned in and gave her a thankful hug back, bending down all the way and burying himself in her warmth. He swore to the heavens that he could stay like that forever and never complain.

"2D…" Xia whispered, trying to get his attention and see that he had prolonged the hug for long enough. She tapped him on the back, and he finally got the hint and shot straight up.

"Sorry, you're jus', really, really warm… I'm stupid."

"No you are not, I think it is cute that you like warm hugs," She smiled wide and giggled, "it's just that you were about to knock me over."

"Oh, well sorry abou' tha'."

"Hey, come over and hang out with us, okay? It will be fun. Or, do you have to be somewhere?"

"No no! I kin come! I'm no' sure where my ride is anyhow."

"Right, you came with Murdoc? I saw him wander off into the woods with a few women as we were packing up."

"Tha's funny, I though' 'e liked a girl alrea'y." Xia ignored his comment and grabbed onto his arm, pulling him over to a large fountain, where Danny and Russell were sitting and having a few beers while two girls and another guy joined them, one of the girls being right up on Danny's arm.

"Hey, 2D boy!" Danny called out as he saw the two coming near them. Stu smiled at the sound of his nickname and wallowed in a little bit of pride, he could tell the group had been impressed with his singing.

"'Ello everyone!"

"So has Noodle talked to you about joining our group yet?" Russell asked as he grabbed another beer from the case on the ground next to him.

"Yep! An', if you all wouldn' min', I'd luv to join yew guys!"

"Welcome to the family then, bro. Sit down, relax, have a few beers, it's part of the band initiation!" Danny joked as he waved his hand towards an empty chair and handed him an un-opened beer bottle. He sat down, Xia sitting next to him as she drank a soda over the beer the rest of them were drinking.

The seven of them chatted for at least an hour, although Xia seemed a little upset and didn't really engage in conversation that much. It didn't go unnoticed by Stuart for too long, but every time he was about to ask her what was wrong, Danny, Russell, or one of the girls would ask him a question, and he'd get trapped in another conversation. But every time he looked over at her, she seemed more and more upset, like the world was resting upon her shoulders. Her frown got bigger, her eyes got sadder, and her hair drooped more and more into her face as each minute went by.

Eventually he stopped answering each question so enthusiastically. He kept his attention on Xia and kept trying to think of something to say to her. Something besides "What's wrong," something that would show that he actually cared.

"'Ey, do yew wan' teh take a walk with meh, luv?" He asked, making it only audible to her so that no one would get the wrong idea from him.

"No thank you, 2D."

"Come on, luv, it'll be fun." He shot her a happy grin, but his face still said "I'm worried about you, talk to me."

After a moment of hesitation, she nodded her head "Yes" and got up from her seat. Stuart took off the jacket he had been lent by Danny and gave it back to the man, who was shivering but not really noticing since he was so full of energy and adrenaline from the night they had. As much as Stu regretted having to give the jacket back, he knew that if he didn't do it right at that moment, he'd totally forget to and the jacket would sit in his closet for forty years.

The two started walking, not really saying anything at all for a while. They walked in silence, despite Stu wanting to know what was wrong, and Xia actually really wanting to tell someone how she was feeling, but being too afraid to. The man knew that all she really needed was someone to be there for her and only her. She needed a shoulder that was free to be cried on if she needed it, an ear to talk into if she desired, and arms that would happily comfort and hold her until she told them to stop.

The two eventually sat down at a lake, still not saying anything to each other. It was beginning to get weird, this endless silence, but not too badly.

Eventually, Xia saw how badly Stu was shaking and decided to take off half of her jacket, which was quite large and could easily accommodate the two spaghetti thin people, and put it over his shoulder, to which he happily accepted and managed to snuggle up into, allowing the feeling to flow back into his skin as he warmed up, not only from having half a jacket, but also being so close to his little love.

"Do you want to know why I'm upset so badly, Stuart?" She finally piped up, not taking her eyes off of the water for a second. He looked down at her and noticed that she was fighting back tears and biting her lip.

"Yew don' 'ave teh tell-"

"I'm sick of my life!" She broke down into a fit of warm tears, a dam of water had exploded from behind her previously calm facial expression. She sobbed and sobbed, and Stuart felt like he could do nothing but hold her close to his chest, which she kindly accepted.

"Music is the only thing that is keeping me alive right now, keeping me from grabbing my father's pistol and ending my life with it. Not that he would even care, that big jerk!" She whisperedly shouted, wishing that she could scream at the top of her lungs all the horrible things she thought of him.

"I'm sad because I don't want to go home, Stu. I don't want to go back tonight, this is my home, right here with my friends, playing music and enjoying it. I want to be here, I don't ever want to go back to that house." She whimpered intensely through tears, her frail body shaking from the emotions she was letting pour out.

"I'm so happy when I'm here. I'm giggly and bubbly and fun and happy. I'm not ever like this at home. I never smile in my house. My father makes it impossible to."

"Wot does 'e do tha's so bad?"

"If I told you, you'd tell me I'm stupid to keep living with him and I should move out on my own. But it's not that simple. He needs me there."

"Xia-"

"No…" She turned in his arms and faced him, and placed a cold hand upon his cheek, to which he rested his own larger one on to keep hers warm. He had the strongest urge to kiss her palm, let her know that he cared so much for her despite having known her for such a short time. He wanted so badly to make her feel good and kiss away her tears. He wanted to hold her all night long and let her fall asleep in his arms. He wanted to be the person who made all the bad stuff in her life go away, the person who would make her happy. Such simple things he wanted with her, and it wrecked his head that he couldn't have them.

"Stu, call me Noodle."

"N-Noodal?" She smiled at his cute way of saying her name, and leaned in to give him another hug. He held her close, letting her know that he wouldn't let go if she didn't, and he buried his face into her sweet smelling hair. She began to cry again, allowing her reality to soak in once more. He held her tighter, cooing into her ear and whispering how sorry he was that she felt this way about her own home.

Suddenly, a phone began to ring.

"No!" The young girl jumped away from him in an instant and grabbed her phone nervously and quickly from her pocket. She looked at the name that popped up and whimpered sadly, allowing another tear to fall before answering.

"H-Hello?" Stuart could hear a man yelling abusive words from the phone, and with each second that went by, the young girl's face lost more and more emotion. After at least a minute of his yelling, the girl finally responded to him.

"I had to come, Dad. They couldn't get any other guitar player." Her tears seemed to have disappeared right off of her face, but she in no way seemed happy or less upset. The man began yelling again, and Stuart could actually make out what he was screaming this time,

"… You spend too much time with music. You know how I feel about you playing guitar, that demonic instrument. It wastes time! Nothing good has ever come of music, it's pointless garbage!"

"… I understand, sir. I'll be home soon." She hung up the phone, and after placing it on the ground, she started to cry again.

"Why is your da' so agains' music?"

"He thinks it wastes my time." She somehow managed to say. She raised herself up from the ground and took one final swipe at her tears, then reached out a hand for him to grab onto.

"Stuart, there is something I have to tell you."

"Yes?" She looked up into his eyes and held his hand firmly.

"That day that you left the guitar in the forest… You saved my life."

"I di' wha'?"

"I was going to kill myself that night. Without music I had no reason to go on. I could have bought a new guitar, yes, but that inscription on it, my nickname, my mother wrote that into the guitar for me when she was still alive. She bought me that guitar, it was the one I first learned to play on. Not just any guitar could replace it, but your gift, even though it's not a perfect replica, it saved me, Stuart."

"I… I didn'."

"Thank you. I owe you my life, I really truly do." She gave him one more, big, tearful hug, and he held onto her for dear life, feeling a train of emotion hitting his body faster than he could breathe. Was all that really true? He saved her life? He didn't mean to, not that he regrets doing it at all, but he just wanted to hear her play again, because she seemed so happy when she played. And yet come to find out, he actually saved a life that day. Her life, more importantly.

They parted, unwillingly, but she knew she had to go, and he knew that too. She looked up at him and smiled before saying,

"Goodnight, Toochie." and leaving a little kiss upon his cheek.

"T-Toochie?"

"Yes. That is my nickname for you. Toochie."

"Oh. Goo'nigh', Xi- I mean, Noodal." He smiled and brought her hand up to his lips, and he kissed the cold, soft skin tenderly. Butterflies racked throughout his body as he took one last look at her beautiful green eyes, and watched as she disappeared into the night, running off to find her friends and head home.

Stuart had never felt quite like this before, and yet he knew this feeling like the back of his hand. He knew people who had been through it before, they described it just like this, that feeling of just knowing, of just feeling so right when you're next to that one special person.

He had had girlfriends before. He had crushes and puppy love romances and steamy make out sessions with more than one girl. It was true, he wouldn't deny it, it felt right at the time, but he regretted them after every one of them broke his heart. He loved too hard, and he unfortunately seemed to attract sluts who couldn't love less.

But this was not any of that. This was entirely separate from what he had ever experienced before. There are people who you'd love to sleep with, and there are people who you'd love to make love to. And despite popular belief, those are different things almost entirely.

And he didn't feel like he would love to sleep with her, the thought hasn't even crossed his mind. He wanted to make her feel good, make her feel wanted, make her feel happy.

He felt, for the first time in his life,

That he was truly, madly, deeply in love with that girl.

* * *

**So how did you like it?**

**I hope it doesn't seem like I'm rushing their relationship too quickly. I have a very bad habit of doing that in my writing. I feel like I'm spacing all the emotional stuff out equally though, if I do too much, things might fizzle out and get boring.**

**That's where reviews come in handy, guys ;) I love those things. Each one gives me a new kick of motivation. And you'll rest satisfied knowing that I give every reviewer a cyber cookie, and if I could, you'd get a real cookie too :D**

**I swear to it, Google has one more year to figure out how to send freshly made cookies over the internet. Otherwise they're getting a very serious letter from yours truly.**

**I hope you all are enjoying the story so far, I'm really trying hard to make this thing good. Maybe cause a few tears, as I've understood those are a good thing while writing.**

**Prepare for more comedy, more drama, and more little loves!**

**Until Next time!**

**-The Symmetricalist, AKA, Gorillove Potato**


	8. All You Need is Love

**I feel really bad about this chapter, and I don't understand why. I feel like I could have added so much more detail, as it's mostly just a conversation, but every single time I tried to add like "and then he did this" or "He sounded so (fill in the blank) as he said that" it seemed to take away too much from what I was trying to say. So I didn't force anything and just let it flow, and although I don't hate it, I don't really like it either.**

**But I named it after one of my favorite Beatles songs, so we're good!**

**I personally rate this chapter T, because there is a little bit of talk about sex. Nothing is graphic, nothing is described, but it's mentioned. Just a warning since I'm paranoid.**

**Seeing as this story is heading in a sort of serious direction, I'm thinking of changing the rating overall to T. **

**Then again I'm not sure if anyone really cares about the ratings so long as it's either MA or under MA. I know I don't.**

**ENJOY!**

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**3~*~*Chapter 8*~*~3**

**3~All You Need is Love~3**

Stu sat there by the lake alone, half of him waiting for Murdoc to show up, the other half wishing he could just sit there and sulk and sigh for the rest of the night.

His mind seemed to be going in a circle around Noodle, first he'd start thinking about how his little love touched him. His arm, his hand, his waist, and with each memory he brought back to mind came a pulsating, feather light, amazing feeling down in the pit of his stomach that spread throughout his body and forced the edges of his lips to form a smile. His cheeks would get all red and he'd sigh contentedly, being so happy just from the thought of her.

Then he'd start thinking about what this feeling in his gut meant. Was it truly love? Had he actually allowed himself to fall for that girl? But even if it was love, there was no guarantee that she loved him back, nor would she ever. Besides, he was much older than her. Yes he had the mind of a child at times, mentally he felt like he was still a young man, a teenager even, but he was in his late thirties, meanwhile she had just barely entered her twenties, and that was just the simple reality of the situation. Of anything, she was expecting him to see her as a little sister, and she probably was beginning to see him as a big brother.

But he couldn't just erase the way he felt. Before tonight, he had a crush. After tonight, after everything she told him, after the way he held her in his arms and the way she dug her face into his neck and just cried there, he had fallen in love. That was the push it took. He was in the water now, the sea of love. He just really hoped he didn't drown, and if he did, he hoped the death of his heart wouldn't be too painful.

And after the slight sadness he experienced after thinking all of that through, he'd begin to wonder if this was even possible. Was it possible to fall in love over a few hugs and a comforting moment? He didn't know. He had never been in love before, and there unfortunately wasn't some handbook that just showed up telling him how to react and what to do so that he wouldn't screw this whole thing up.

And then he sighed and his thoughts went blank, and suddenly he went back to thinking about her touch, so he smiled sadly, and the entire circle began again.

"'Ey there, 2D boy." Stu jumped at the sound of someone's voice, and turned around to see Murdoc coming towards him, hands in his pockets and a stupid, slightly drunken smile on his face.

"'Ello, Muds. Where di' yew run off teh?"

"Heh, some nice young ladies showed me wha' really goes on at the park after the sun sets."

"I though' yew were wit' tha' girl yew liked?"

"Noel? For a while I was, yeah," Murdoc sat down next to Stuart, laying back onto the grass and resting his arms behind his head as he suddenly found himself in deep thought, "but 'er bloo'y boyfriend showed up and started glaring at me, so I wen' off and left 'em alone."

Stu looked down at the man, noting a few smudges of red lipstick all over his mouth, and a few bruises on his neck. Stuart was an idiot at times, but it didn't take a genius to know what those were from.

"Bu' I'm still a li'el confused, Muds."

"Confused about' wha'?"

"If yew lioke Noel so much, why di' yew go off wit' those two otheh girls?"

"Because, there are girls who yew wan' to spend your nigh' with, and there are girls who yew wan' to spend your life with. I jus' so happen to only attract the ones who don' stay very long."

"Well, maybe it's because they're teh type yew go afteh." Stu said rather confidently, not thinking that maybe that wasn't the best thing to say. Murdoc stared at him for a moment, thinking up a reply before he raised himself up to his level and looked at him sternly.

"I am forty eight years ol', I've 'ad one steady girlfriend ever. I don' nee' your relationship advice. Good women do no' go for dirty, used, beaten up ol' men like me. It's a fact. I'm going to die alone." There was another pause in their conversation, and neither man really did anything for a moment or two. The older one laid back down, coming to a sad realization in his own words. He was too old to think about spending his good years with a girl, because in truth, he didn't have many good years left.

"Maybe you're afrai'."

"Afraid of wha'?"

"Afrai' of fallin' in luv."

"Afraid of falling in love? That's the stupidest thing I've eveh 'eard. Love is pointless. Why buy a cow when yew can 'ave the milk for free?" He laughed at his own words, trying to ignore his real feelings on the matter.

"Bu' is eht goo' milk Muds?" Stu turned to him, even though it sounded funny, he was entirely serious. Murdoc raised himself again, this time just looking down, reflecting on those words for a minute, even though he didn't want to.

"No. It's really no'. It sucks. Bu' ehts all I 'ave, an' eht's all I'll eveh ge'."

"So yew don' wan' more? Yew don' fink yew deserve a taste of the real stuff? Yew don' eveh wan' to look down at a girl and jus' fink about' 'ow much yew luv 'er?" There was a silence, and the older man turned to the younger, his body fully facing him as an irrational anger blazed inside his heart.

"I don' know if I do, okay?! All relationships end some day, every single one of 'em, be eht from death or 'eart break. I don' wan' to fall in love and find ou' jus' 'ow much it 'urts. I don' wan' to look at a woman and know I might' break 'er heart one day!" Murdoc shouted, not quite realizing just how angry he sounded, nor why he was getting so angry. He calmed down and took a deep breath, knowing that his anger wasn't going to get him anywhere.

"I hate myself for wha' I've become. I'm responsible for a man's death, I spent years in jail, I lost the only woman who ever said she loved me… I don' even care that she admittedly cheated, I didn' trea' 'er fairly. I ruined my last chance with a woman, I'm no' going to ge' anymore. From now on it's bimbos for me." He crossed his arms over his legs and leaned his chin upon them, sighing deeply and trying his best to hold back emotion.

Stu realized that he made him really upset, so he tried thinking of something else to say to him to lead his thoughts in a different direction, while still coming to the same conclusion.

"… 'Ave, 'ave yew ever made love before?" Stuart asked nervously, yet intently wondering if this man would be one to separate "Sleeping with someone" and "Making love," or if he'd be one to classify them as the same thing.

Although Stuart was entirely serious about the question, Murdoc just laughed for a bit.

"Yes, yes I've made love. Lots of it."

"No, I mean, like…"

"You're asking if I find sex and love to be the same thing?"

"Yes, exactly."

"They are. Sex is for love, love is for sex, that's why love is stupid. It's fake. It's a game your brain creates to make sure you 'ave kids."

"Well I don' fink eht is."

"Yew keep thinking tha' way and you'll die a virgin. I might' die alone, bu' I'm no' dying a virgin."

"It's sad 'ow eht seems lioke tha's all tha' mattehs teh yew, yew make it seem lioke ehts okay to be heartless so long as you're 'aving sex. Even when yew di' eht wit' your girlfrien', eht didn' feel differen' because yew luved 'er?"

"I didn' love 'er. She loved me. When I realized tha' she woul' be the only woman to ever fall in love with me, I go' with 'er, no' wanting to be alone anymore. When she cheated on me, I felt betrayed, but no' jealous. I jus' felt like 'er love for me was fake an' I woul' end up alone anyway. I 'ave neveh been in love, an' I neveh will."

"Bu' wha' about' Noel?"

"I do not love Noel, you blubbering idiot. She's sexy as 'ell, an' one of the few people who's kind to me. I wan' 'er teh cheat with me, jus' so I can feel the satisfaction of knowing I'm the reason a girl went astray from 'er beloved. I don' wan' to be wit' 'er, I jus' wan' teh be 'er dirty li'el secret for a while. Bu' she won' do tha'. She see's me as a Da' I think, sick really. She came to me the other night, sayin' 'er boyfrien' proposed and she didn' know to say yes or no'." Murdoc lost track of his careless attitude and allowed a melancholic sigh to escape his lips as he continued, "I tol' 'er if she loved him, she shoul' go for eht. And tonigh' she tol' 'im yes."

"Muds, I fink you're lying to yourself-"

"Stu, this may seem like a lie to yew because you're lovesick as 'ell and yew 'ave this sick idea tha' everyone is stupid enough to fall in love, bu' I don' love anyone. I'm a 'eartless, coldhearted man, an'-"

"T'is righ' 'ere! Wha' does this mean teh yew?" Stu had reached out for his peace necklace and raised it right in front of Murdoc's eyes, angry that he wore this thing all the time yet seemed to have no idea what it meant.

"It's a necklace. It means nothing."

"No! Yew said yew wore eht because your da' gave eht to yew before 'e died. If it meant nothing, yew wouldn't wear eht. Yew aren' the man yew say yew are, I know you're not. Yew jus' 'ave this big, dirty, mean personality that yew wear on over your 'eart so yew kin keep it from getting 'urt. But I guarantee yew, swear me own life on eht, tha' if yew took tha' personality off an' showed everyone how yew really are, you'll be so much 'appier, and yew will no' die alone." Stu gave him a smile, all he wanted out of this conversation was to prove that everyone was capable of love, and he wanted his mate right here to see that.

"I wish tha' were true, Stuart. Bu' there isn' even a 'eart left under this dirty personality."

"T'is righ' 'ere, Muds," Stu took the peace sign and gave it a shake, "t'is is your 'eart."

Murdoc took a big, exhausting sigh and shook his head as Stu allowed the necklace to fall back flat onto his chest.

"You're so damn stubborn. Maybe, maybe yew 'ave a point. I've neveh made love. I've 'eard it's amazing, bu' yew can' go an' do it and expect it to be groundbreakingly good, it jus' 'appens, yew can' plan it ou'. An' I've been curious on 'ow true love feels, bu' I still don' fink I'm capable of eht, and even if I were, no woman woul' fall for me again. Bu' le' me ask yew a question, do yew even know wha' love is?"

"I 'ave no clue. Bu' I feel eht, Muds, I jus' feel eht. It's lioke in Benny and Joon when Joon goes in to kiss Johnny Depp and Johnny feels it's right bu' 'e holds off and blows a balloon, ehts like that. Bu', even more so!"

"Eht is, 'ey? Well I hope the best for yew. Seems like yew truly care, abou' everyone and everything. Yew 'ave so much love to give, eht's so stupidly childish."

"Muds, be honest with meh. Do yew fink my li'el luv luv's me back? Do yew fink she even coul'?"

"Stu, it seems like with yew, jus' about' anything coul' 'appen."

"Tha's not a yes."

"Alrigh', alrigh'. Truth be tol', yew two 'ave chemistry. I coul' see eht up on stage tonigh'. Yew clicked. Bu' don' set yourself up for 'eartbreak, okay? She may no' wan' to date someone oveh ten years oldeh than 'er."

"Love see's no age."

"No, bu' people do. Yew wan' my advice? 'Ang out with some other girls. Date aroun' a li'el, 'ave some fun. An' if she stays on your mind the entire time, ge' really drunk. If she's still in your 'ead, maybe she's a keepeh."

"Muds, I don' wan' teh date aroun'. I wan' teh date 'er."

"Then ask her out, yew coward!"

"I wan' to. Bu' I'm afrai'."

"Listen to me, Stu. If Internet Explorer is brave enough to ask to be your default browser, you are brave enough to ask 'er out."

"I don' understand, but okay! I'll ask her out tomorrow."

"Tomorrow is Sunday."

"Well I'll ask her out Monday then!"

"Tha's the spirit. Now le's ge' yew 'ome, you're growing icicles from your nose."

* * *

**I have this strange habit of taking a single day in a fanfic and stretching it out over several chapters, or at least to the point where it feels very weird to do a time skip or simply move on to a new day. I think I've done pretty good so far with this fanfic with regards to not doing that, but this day seems to be pretty long so far. I'm ending it soon though.**

**R&amp;R!**

**-The Symmertricalist**


	9. I'm So Tired

**It took me four days to complete this, which is probably my shortest chapter yet. But I really ran out of inspiration for it, and gained it back at the end, and decided to just continue into a different chapter than make this one longer, because if I end up making this one longer I might never finish it.**

**That's my sorry, lame excuse for this short chapter, but enjoy it anyway, or skip it and wait for the next, probably won't make a difference ;)**

* * *

**~*Chapter 9*~**

**~*~*I'm so Tired*~*~**

It had gotten late when the boys got back home to Stu's house, and after a few more drinks while sitting around talking about life in general, it was safe to assume that one of them would not be driving home that night. So Stu set up a makeshift bed on the couch, or in reality, he threw a blanket over it and gave Murdoc a pillow.

And to be honest, the exhausted bassist could not care less. He fell down on the couch, not even taking his black hoodie off from earlier that night, and slept.

Stu's little home was very, well, plain. He didn't have much going on inside, which was nice in a way. His walls were still mostly white, with the exception of a few stripes of random colors all around the place, samples that his mom put up the day she decided he seriously needed to pick a wall color. He wasn't interested in painting though, it seemed like far too much work considering the fact that he already had all his stuff in here. So the random splashes of color stayed, never having the hope of someday spreading and not looking so lazily done.

His kitchen and living room were connected, the only thing separating his couch from his fridge was an island the size of two of his keyboards, which he knew to be true because he kept two of his keyboards right next to the island. Most people would put chairs there, but Stuart wasn't most people.

He had a modest television, and an extremely intricate array of Zombie DVDs and video games which piled much higher than the TV itself. He owned only a Playstation 2 and a Wii, which he stayed satisfied with considering the fact that keeping up with the latest consoles would heavily impact his already "Ramen Noodles Every Night" worthy budget, which would definitely be happening if his mom didn't feel bad for him and come to cook for him four nights a week.

Upstairs he had two rooms. One was his bedroom, of course, which was incredibly messy and had the simple scent of butterscotch and cigarettes coating the air. He had pill bottles by the bed, several old stuffed animals scattering the floor next to his bed, a pair of pants hanging from the ceiling fan from an incident he had with Sparky, and a simple little hamper in the corner of the room, entirely disguised by dirty clothes. He wasn't very tidy, this was no secret, but he was single and he lived alone, so he got away with it quite easily.

In the other room he had several boxes of packed up random things that he truly didn't need, considering he had been in this place four months and still hadn't looked through one of them to find something he needed. Every time he found that he required the usage of a hammer, a spoon, or anything else that he no doubt had packed away in one of these boxes, he went out and bought a new one.

So yes, his house was simple. The majority is what you'd expect from a bachelor, but Stu had definitely put his own spin on it to make it his own style, even if unintentionally. But the home, apart from being simple, was also quiet. Even at night, when there was no TV on, no music playing, no chatter from the living room couch, and that special, nighttime blanket of soundless comfort was spread over the home, the type that would make it easy to hear a pin drop from across the room or allow the gentle sway of a ceiling fan cause a calming hum to drift you off to sleep, there was nothing. And in a way, that bothered Stu as he slept soundly in his bed. He wanted some sort of noise to be there, something to remind him that he was alive even when all he could see was darkness. But he didn't want the sound of a ceiling fan or anything like that. He wanted to hear someone else's breathing. He wanted someone to lie beside him, and just breathe.

He didn't care if it was a romantic interest, even if that would be best. He just didn't want to hear nothing. Even a dog breathing would make him happy. But there was probably no chance that such a disorganized, and lets face it, irresponsible man could keep a dog alive and well cared of for more than a few weeks.

So for now, he just had to sleep in silence.

But tonight, instead of sleeping in silence as he usually did, he stayed awake with his thoughts, fighting with them and trying to keep them back so that he could get a little sleep, but it simply wasn't working. He tossed and turned, his mind going from endless happy thoughts to endless, terrifyingly upsetting thoughts in less than a millisecond.

He looked at the array of pill bottles on his nightstand, tempted to throw back as many as his body could somewhat handle just to get to sleep. But he remembered what happened the last time he did so, and he already had alcohol in his body, he didn't want to end up in the hospital again.

He got up, not even daring himself to look at the clock, which read 4:30 AM, and walked out of his bedroom, wearing only a pair of sweat pants and some mismatched socks. He soon found himself in the kitchen, staring into a blindingly bright cold rectangle and wondering what he was doing with his life. He reached out for something, then pulled back his hand when he decided he didn't want it. He then reached out for another thing, but retrieved his hand yet again when he remembered that it was probably moldy from being in there so long, and after a moment or so of doing this over and over, he closed the fridge door and walked over to the stove, grabbed his tea kettle, which conveniently still had water in it from the last time he decided he wanted a cup of tea, and placed it on one of the burners shortly before turning it on high and waiting for the whistle.

He performed a mixture of a yawn and a heavy sigh before leaning his back against the counter next to the oven and looking down at the floor, his eyes giving immediate focus to a small black ant that was struggling with a tiny piece of crumble cake it had found somewhere.

Stu then lifted his head up and immediately locked eyes with Sparky, the man who broke down his bedroom door just yesterday.

"Hai!"

"Oh, hi Sparky." Stu was not only use to Sparky showing up in his house at random times, he was also far too tired to care.

Thankfully, this time the tall, slightly muscular man was fully clothed in a pair of Yukkuri pajamas, and he was holding a small teddy bear wearing a red university jacket.

"You look sad."

"I'm no'," Stu gave out another yawn, "jus' tired."

"Here, hold tiddy bear." He held out the bear and gave it to the shorter man, who accepted it and held it close, closing his eyes tiredly.

"Fanks, Sparks."

"So how was that concert thing?"

"Pretteh good. I go' teh sing."

"I got kicked out."

"Wot? Why?"

"I set the toaster on fire and burned down the house."

"Uh…" Stu looked at the man in confusion, then he settled down and realized it wasn't all that surprising.

"So I guess technically it was the fire that kicked me out, but anyway, I'm gonna bunk here for a few months."

"Alrigh', bu' 'ow di' yew ge' in?"

"I never left."

"Bu' 'ow di' yew…"

"Shhhh… Just trust me, okay?" Sparky placed a finger to the blue haired mans lips, then ran his hand down his chin to the bear, which he slowly grabbed before taking it back into his own arms and walking backwards slowly, soon disappearing into the unilluminated living room without a single trace.

Stu shook his head a little and sighed again, feeling a slight stomach ache coming on for no apparent reason. He looked over at the kettle and realized that it was letting out a lot of steam and was just about to begin whistling, so he quickly turned the burner off and grabbed a cup from the cabinet, then he grabbed a packet of green tea from a little tea bin he had next to the stove, and proceeded to strip the bag from the packet and place it in the cup before pouring in the water.

He blowed on it for a moment or two, and after taking a sip, he immediately felt nauseous. He took a few more sips hoping the feeling would go away, but it got worse. He was about to put the tea down, but took one more sip anyway, and ended up flying to the sink, throwing up everything he had consumed earlier that day.

He moaned with displeasure, slightly surprised that he hadn't awoken his house guest who was still sound asleep on the couch, and then proceeded to turn on the water to wash away the unsightly mess he had made, being thankful that he had no dishes in the sink today.

He still felt very ill and decided to head back to bed, leaving his little cup of tea on the counter. But he didn't make it before another wave of nausea took him running for the downstairs bathroom.

He blacked out after a very unfortunate interaction with the toilet, and awoke to the sound of laughter coming from the living room…

* * *

**I'm very impressed with myself with being able to name two chapters in a row after Beatles songs. I should make a chapter where everyone starts hallucinating and name it Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.**

**So yes, sorry if it was a tad slow, one of the reasons why I wanted to keep it short. Really wanted to post this quickly so that no one would think I would be gone for another two months. I was starting to scare myself into believing I would.**

**Well, Imma go and have myself a cup o tea now, tata!**

**P.S. For those who don't know, Yukkuri is, well... I cannot really explain... Google it.**

**-TheSymmetricalist**


	10. Let it Be

**Big shout out to my BFF who is currently up at almost 3:00 AM because I told her to read this.**

**I love you, Jenny :)**

**Anyhow, this chapter is, well, progress? I don't have much to say about it except I personally like it a lot.**

**You will soon discover why :)**

**Too many smiley faces here.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**~*~*Chapter 10*~*~**

***~*~*Let it Be*~*~***

Stu lifted himself slowly from the bathroom floor, a pounding headache having just reached his skull as the nausea that had hit him earlier proved very quickly that it had not left and was still out to make his life miserable for the time being.

As if he didn't already feel like complete crud, there was also a near deafening tone of girlish laughter coming from the living room, which meant somebody decided to invite people over at six o' clock in the morning.

At least, he figured it was six, he couldn't have been out for too long, could he?

He opened the door and came out into the living room, laying his eyes upon four young girls, all talking on the couch while drinking coffee with Sparky.

Stu noticed one of the girls right away, it was Noodle! She was smiling somewhat, but it seemed fake, and her bangs were covering her eyes entirely, like they usually did, only this time a little more so. They somehow seemed thicker, actually. After some far away investigation, he recognized another one of the girls too. She had long, light brown hair, and big brown deer eyes, very pretty little thing. She was one of the girls who was talking to him last night, not the one who was on Danny's arm, but another one. Then there were two brunettes sitting side by side that he didn't really recognize, one having her short hair up in a messy ponytail, the other had her hair styled in a way that made her resemble a cat. The one with the ponytail had light brown eyes and a very pale complexion, the other had green and was a little tanner skinned.

Sparky noticed Stu standing in the hallway, and immediately waved to him.

"Hey! Come over here and meet these people I found!" All the girls switched their attention to Stu, Noodle taking one glance and immediately looking back down after doing so, a slight pink cloud of embarrassment tinting her face.

"Sparks, I don' mind yew sleepin' 'ere 'n all, bu'…"

"Sit down!"

"Bu' I…"

"Siiiit!" Sparky patted a spot next to him relentlessly, and Stu, knowing he wouldn't stop no matter how much he protested, decided to come around and sit down. Besides, he did want to know why his little love was in his house drinking coffee.

"So, Blooby, I found these two girls walking past the house while I was outside today," He pointed to Noodle and the long haired girl, who were on the opposite couch, "and I said to myself "Hey I know that blonde chick!" Everyone gave Sparky a confused glare, since the girl he was talking about was quite obviously not blonde.

"But I'm…" Just as she was about to let him know of this fact, he cut her off.

"So then I invited them in and made them coffee, and I then invited Lil Perv and Terri over so we could have a party!"

"Bu' Sparks I…"

"Shhhhh..." Sparky placed a finger to Stu's mouth, then proceeded to sip at his coffee, or more or less stick his tongue in and out of it like some kind of confused snake.

Stu switched his attention to Noodle, wishing that the seat next to her was free so that he could be closer to her, but for now he happily enjoyed the view of her from a short distance, and figured that asking her how on earth she ended up in his house would result in a much more sensible, and understandable, answer.

"So, Noodle, wot brough' yew all to meh place?"

"Jaya and I were taking a walk today, and she apparently knew your friend, so we stopped in. I had no clue this was your house until I saw you walk out." She barely made eye contact with him for some reason, and every time she did she quickly turned away, a faint smile painting her lips every time she did look at him. Stu blushed himself when he looked down and realized he wasn't wearing a shirt, could that be why she kept looking away? Did she actually find him, dare he say, attractive?

Suddenly, the blue haired bloke turned around, and gave a confused look as his eyes darted to every corner of the room.

"Sparks?" Stu asked as he realized that the one person he actually invited over was nowhere to be seen.

"Yes, Blooby?"

"Where's Muh'doc?"

"Ohhh, that guy! Yeah he left."

"When?"

"When he woke up and saw me taking pictures of him."

"Why were yew-"

"Shhhh…" Sparky placed a finger to his mouth again and decided to say something entirely irrelevant, "Terri here is a D-cup."

Sparky pointed to Terri, aka the girl with the cat-like hair, and the flustered girl immediately smacked him in the face as hard as she could.

"If you're gonna say my breast size say it right!" Terri suddenly went from a demonized war face to a sweet and gentle manner as her eyes switched to Stu "I'm a D-38."

"Well I'm a C-38, but I got the hips to match, unlike you, you reverse pear!" The girl next to her, the one with the ponytail, suddenly stood up and informed her "friend".

"How dare you!" Terri pounced on her rather suddenly, and the girl who was sitting on the couch next to Noodle calmly got up and walked over to the fighting duo, using every bit of her strength to separate them as quickly as possible.

The two girls wrestled with each other relentlessly, pulling hair and screaming, and soon the third girl, the calmer one, switched her attitude and got fully involved in the fight, even going so far as to grab a small air soft gun out of her pocket and begin to shoot the other two, missing for the most part as she was being thrown around, which caused her to unintentionally hit other things in the room, but every now and then she victoriously pelted one of the girls in the chest.

Meanwhile, instead of stopping them, Sparky got out his phone and began recording them, encouraging whichever one seemed to be winning at the time with shouts of his nicknames for them, namely "Little Perv", "Double D" and "The One Holding the Gun."

Stu shook his head in pain, it was far too early for this, even if it were to be five in the afternoon, it would still be far too early for this.

He got up, walked away from the couch, and shot his little love a look that said "I know you want to get away from this mess too, so follow me." She complied with another half smile and got up from her seat, placing down her empty mug before following him up the stairs and into the hallway leading to his room.

"Where you two going?" Sparky called out, to which Stu didn't even bother answering.

"What happened to your door?" Noodle asked as she stepped over pieces of broken wood and fragments of guitar frets.

"Meh frien' Sparkles broke meh frien' Muh'doc's bass while tryin' to git inteh meh room." Stu said lowly, trying not to talk too much and increase his already horribly bad headache.

"So, taking me to your room already I see. And you haven't even bought me dinner yet, you shameful dog." Noodle giggled as the man looked at her and turned red, half of him taking her serious, and the other half realizing that she was just joking and she wasn't getting the wrong idea about him.

"Well, meh 'ead is poundin' an' I can' take all tha' yellin' righ' now. Plus, I go' real sick 'tis morning'." Stu sat down on the bed and opened up a bottle of his pills, taking only two as opposed to what he would have taken a few years ago. He cocked his head and popped out one more, realizing that this was a pretty severe headache and he really didn't want it to interfere with his time he had with Noodle.

"Well why did you bother asking me to come here with you? Don't you want to rest?"

"I figured yew 'ad enough uh eht too." He laid back down onto the bed, mentally telling himself that he'd only lay down until his head felt better, when suddenly he realized that there was now another body sitting down on the bed in front of him.

"You read me like a book then."

"I di', di' I?"

"Yeah. You said your head hurt?"

"Yeh, eht's killin meh eht is."

"I can rub it for you if you'd like." Stu turned absolutely red the moment she asked. Her gentle little guitarist hands, grazing across his scalp, grabbing at his neck, maybe even a little ear rubbing if he was very lucky. Before he could even think of whether his answer would be yes or no, he mumbled "Yes".

"Alright, well sit up and I'll come behind you." She maneuvered herself onto the bed, her shoes were already long gone, so she didn't worry about her feet dirtying his blankets. He lifted himself up and looked at her tiny body as she placed herself behind him, and he had a slight urge to tickle her little toes and hear her shriek in laughter, but he ignored the feeling and instead rested his head into her palms, smiling as a wave of tingles went up his spine.

"Is it mostly in the back or the front?" She asked, he could feel her voice reverberating against his back as he quite suddenly realized he was leaning on her almost entirely.

"Is wot is?"

"Your headache, silly."

"Is meh 'eadache wot?"

"Is it in the front of your head," She placed a finger on his forehead to clarify, and then placed the other on the back of his head, "or in the back?"

"Oh, eht's all oveh meh 'ead."

"Alright, I'll start on your shoulders to loosen you up, then I'll move up, okay?" Stu nodded slightly and drifted off into heaven as her tiny yet strong fingers dug into his back relaxingly, a soft, gentle rhythm coming from them as she found that perfect spot in-between not-too-soft and not-too-hard.

She slowly came up to his neck and he closed his eyes, his arms entirely limp as his head hung low and she had to keep gently reminding him to not fall forward, as he was about to many, many times. Eventually she pushed his back forward a little, encouraging him to instead lie down in her lap, which would be easier for the both of them.

He smiled and kept his eyes closed, almost falling asleep as she gently played with his hair and rubbed his throbbing skull with the tips of her fingers, washing away his pain with her kind, gentle touch. She came to his temples and placed two fingers on each side of his head, and giggled as he softly moaned from the feeling.

He was just about to fall asleep when he opened his eyes lazily and saw a smile on her face as she looked down at him. He raised up his hand and touched her face longingly, a bittersweet smile escaping his lips as she leaned into his palm and placed her own hands upon his cheeks, her thumbs gently caressing his face.

He placed another hand onto her face, slowly drawing her nearer to him. His heart skipped a beat, and so did hers as she found herself willing to come into his embrace, a feeling of airiness and fluff inside her stomach as she closed her eyes and leaned down, just inches away from his half open lips.

"Noodal…" He whispered softly, which made her giggle again. She came even closer and he was greeted with her gorgeous little face, her bangs were now touching his chin and he could see all of her features in plain day, green Asian eyes that spoke to him a thousand songs, and a cute button nose that reminded him of a baby monkey, and something else that seemed much more evident now than it ever had before…

A bruise upon her eye.

Deeper and darker than when she first showed him.

"'Ey, wot's 'tis?" He asked as gently as he could, his hand reaching out for it.

"No, stop…" She turned away and forced herself to the edge of the bed rather quickly, holding herself in her arms as she shook her head to get the bangs to fall back into place.

"'Eht wasn' tha' dark before, luv… Is sumfink wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong, Stu."

"'Ey, I'm yor frien', yew know? Yew kin talk to meh abou' anyfink." He put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile. She looked at him and wrapped her arms around his waist, finding immediate comfort in his friendly tone.

"Can we just pretend it's not there? I'm okay." She said, her voice sounding truly distant from the concern he had made evident.

"I suppose we kin…"

"Which means…" She pulled away from him and put a hand upon his cheek, "whatever was about to happen, can we still let it happen?"

"Um, yew mean…" The little woman suddenly pulled on his neck, making his face much closer to hers, and with a hesitant sigh, she leaned in, allowing him space to either continue this, whatever this was, or pull away and leave it at that. He gulped, and pulled back an inch or two, just to look at her, to see a slight pain upon her lips as she wasn't allowing him to see the emotion within her eyes that was hidden behind those awful bangs, her little wall of defense against him knowing what was truly on her mind. He took one hand and placed it gently upon her cheek, then took the other and swiped away the hair from her forehead, revealing not only her bruise, but also the tears that were welling up in her eyes.

He leaned in close, and placed his lips gently against the area between her cheek and her nose, the crease where a tear had just fallen, and he looked at her innocently, wanting to do this same action over and over until all her tears had been kissed away.

With a little bit of lip quivering, he finally closed his eyes and leaned down towards her lips, his fingers entangled within her hair as her hands pulled his neck in closer and closer as the seconds ticked by. Soon enough, their lips met, ever so gently, and with a leap in each of their hearts as the kiss morphed into an emotional train wreck, one person trying to escape her reality through the action, and the other trying to help her do so.

Within a few seconds what began as a simple kiss quickly led to the man pulling her into his lap, and her happily complying as she opened her mouth and ran her fingers madly through his hair. He pulled her in as close as possible, his cheeks so flushed he could feel the heat radiating from his skin. She was the first to pull away, or at least try to as he kept leaning forward every time she pulled back, not wanting this to end, and eventually succeeded once she forced his chest back with her hand gently.

"Stu, I need to breathe." She said simply, not wanting to hurt his feelings or make him believe that he wasn't a good kisser, because he really was.

"Righ', I'm sorry, I…" She tapped his lips and kissed his nose, giving him a tired smile before hugging him close to her, giving him incentive to hug her back and rub his hand up and down her shirt, a feeling of comfort and closeness taking over his body as he looked on at what seemed like the rest of the world, and held his little love, the one thing he felt was finally his, close to him, not letting her go.

"I should get going." She said softly as she tried to pull away from him, but he playfully groaned and held her closer.

"Yor meh li'el luv, yew know?" He slowly rocked her in his arms, and she giggled childishly as she looked into his star stricken eyes and sighed happily.

"You barely know me, silly."

"I've known yew long enough teh know you're goin' teh be a big par' of meh life if yew le' meh make yew so."

"How big?"

"Biggeh than anyfink I've eveh lioked t'is much before."

"That's really kind of you, Toochie." She playfully patted his head and scratched it a little, noting how he had certain little spots that really made him smile when she paid them attention, similar to a lovable mutt.

"Do yew lioke meh, Noods?"

"If I did not like you, I would not be sitting on your lap, and I most certainly would not have just kissed you." She leaned down and kissed his lips softly yet again. He happily cooed as she did so, and he wrapped his arms around her even tighter. However, the moment he did so, she pulled away, took his hands away from her sides, and stood up from his lap.

"Where are yew goin'?"

"I really need to get home, Toochie. Jaya and I were only to be walking for a little bit." She seemed so eager to go, yet also made it obvious that it wasn't her choice to.

"Wai', kin yew please stay jus' a bi' longeh?" He grabbed her hand as she was about to leave, a heavy sadness in his eyes as he looked up and saw the side of her bruise.

"Really, I must go-"

"No', I'm no' letting' yew go until yew tell meh exac'ly wot 'appened teh yor eye." She forcefully yanked her arm out of his hand and stormed for the door without saying a word. He got up and grabbed her arm again, and this time she swung around and slapped him on the cheek, not very hard, but hard enough for him to be so shocked that he let go.

"I told you to pretend it wasn't there, okay? Why did you bring it up again?"

"Because I'm worried, Noo-"

"Don't say it. Only my friends can call me that. If you were my friend, you wouldn't have asked about my eye after I told you not to." There was a pause as she clenched her fists and spun around, shakily making her way down the hall slowly so that she had the time to regain her composure.

"Maybe it wasn' nice teh say somefink after yew said teh no' teh," Stu slowly followed her, his arms crossed over his chest as he tried to keep himself calm and not freak out, "but I don' fink it's nice tha' yew don' wan' meh to be worried about' yew."

"Stuart, you have nothing to be worried about-" He came quickly to her and placed a hand upon her cheek, his thumb being right underneath her eye.

"Then wot is t'is? I'm dumb sometimes, bu' I'm not a total idiot. Somefink 'appened."

"Nothing happened, now leave it alone!" She yelled, furious at him as she ran down the stairs. He was about to chase after her, but then he stopped in his tracks and just let her be. She took off out the door, and he watched as Jaya left after her, equally worried about her friend storming off like that.

He felt entirely hopeless, he knew something was wrong. Something very, very bad was happening to his little love, otherwise she wouldn't have that bruise, and she wouldn't be so fragile in talking about it.

He had to know what was happening.

And he would not rest until he knew.

* * *

**I hope the whole kiss scene wasn't rushed, I really wanted them to kiss but I didn't want it to be too fast, you know? They have only known each other a few days. I hope I gave enough excuses as to why they're kissing already. If not, oh well.**

**I'm gonna hurry up and post this now so my friend can get to sleep.**

**I succeeded in making three chapters in a row named after Beatles songs! Yay!**

**Btw why the heck is there no Beatles fanfictions? I would go berzerk in that section.**

**Maybe that's why it doesn't exist. I mean, there is a section for _TV commercials_, but not The Beatles. Really. Like. Really.**

**Okay I'm out!**

**R&amp;R!**

**-The Symmetricalist**


	11. A New Life

**I have been working on this chapter on and off all day today. I was determined to get it up right before the New Year!**

**Everyone, allow me to introduce to you, my very last chapter to be published in 2014 (This is by no means the ending of the story!)**

**Enjoy everyone!**

* * *

**~*Chapter 11*~**

**~*~*~*A New Life*~*~*~**

An entire day went by, and it was soon Monday morning. Stu had spent most of the rest of his Sunday up in his bedroom, rethinking everything that had happened, the massaging, the kissing, the cuddling, the fighting, and how it all went from the top of the world to the ends of the ocean in just a few minutes.

The kiss was something magical. He felt as though everything was so perfect in their little moment together, as though they had created a safe bubble around themselves that blocked out all the bad stuff in their lives. But her bruise. He was so worried about that thing, surely she wasn't so clumsy that she caused it to herself, and if she did, wouldn't she have admitted to it? Instead, she got completely defensive over it.

All these thoughts plagued his mind. He wanted to know that she was okay. And he hoped that on Monday morning at the AEC, he'd be able to know whether she was or not. Maybe she had calmed down and was ready to talk about it. But he went in, sat down, and did his usual testing for at least two hours, and she didn't show up at all.

A few more hours went by, and it was time for him to go. He walked sadly down the hall, not even paying attention to Murdoc who was intensively trying to get his attention. He shouted his name, his nickname, he even shouted out "Blue boy!" But the depressed fellow was far too deep in his own thoughts to even acknowledge that he was now being shaken intensely by somebody.

"Dullard! Snap ou' o' eht, wha's your deal today?!"

"Wot?" Stu finally said as he turned around and faced the man.

"I 'ave been tryin' the git your attention since you walked in today."

"For wot?"

"Well, for one, uh, I was wonderin' if yew wouldn' mind me crashin' at your 'ouse for a few days."

"I don' git why people come to me every time they nee' a place to stay. Wot's wrong wit' yor place?"

"Eh, my brotha's in town an' 'e's bein' a major pain in my arse. Bu' if I kick 'im ou', 'e won' keep a certain deal I made wit' 'im."

"A deal?"

"Well, money 'as been tight and 'e's offerin' teh pay my rent for the next two months. But only on the condition tha' I le' 'im stay at my place while 'e's in town."

"Oh. Well yeah, I guess yew kin come stay wit' meh then. Sparky is there though."

"Yeah I know. Don' worry, I've devised a plan to keep 'im from breakin' any more of my stuff." Murdoc smiled to himself and looked off to the side, noticing Noel going down the stairs and suddenly getting lost in a strange daydream of sorts.

"Well, I'm-"

"I'll be by lateh today wit' my stuff. See yeah." With that, Murdoc went and followed the young woman whom was almost out of eyesight. Stu sighed and looked out the window, hoping that wherever his little love was, she was alright.

Tuesday soon came, and Noodle still hadn't shown up for the day. Shortly after testing was over, a short, older woman went around to all the individual students and gave them small green cards, Stu was just watching her give two to Noel and Murdoc when an older man walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Stuart! Punctual as always, aren't you?"

"Bu' eht's the end uh the day."

"Well, still, you're always here on time, you have never missed a day, and your testing scores are really looking good."

"Well, wot does tha' mean?"

"It means you're smart. You take a little bit more time than everyone else, but you do understand everything pretty well. Which is exactly why you're being put in the A classes." The man handed him a blue card, different from everyone else's.

"I'm no' tha' smart though…"

"Nonsense! Believe in yourself, kid, you'll go far if you do. Now, everyone else in this room is going to be tutored on a specific subject they're having trouble with starting tomorrow. You're going to have the privilege of skipping that, and you're going to go straight into the actual GED classes."

"Wai', so I'm startin' class?"

"Yep! You'll have to start being here earlier, around thirty minutes earlier than you have been coming. You'll have math class Monday and Tuesday starting next week in Ms. Jackson's classroom, and starting tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday you'll have Language Arts in Mr. Aiken's classroom. Any questions?"

"Uh, do I nee' teh bring stuff?"

"Yes, just a notebook and a pencil, nothing too intense. I'll see you tomorrow, Mr. Pot?"

"Uh, I guess so." Stu looked down at the blue card, a small knot growing in his stomach as his mind immediately went from "Classes" to "Where on earth was his little love".

"Great! Get a good nights sleep, Mr. Aiken has heard good stuff about you, courtesy of me! Don't let him down!" The man walked away, a huge smile on his face as he walked out the door and took one last look at Stu.

Our protagonist looked down at the card again, then at the door the man just walked out of, and he realized he had absolutely no idea who that guy was.

Tuesday night came by, and Stu was sitting on the couch, sipping on a beer as Murdoc strummed away in the background on a little ocean blue bass guitar that he had hooked up to a small, but very, very loud amp.

"Play Pon Pon Pon!" Sparky shouted from the staircase down to the man who was trying to drown him out with his own playing.

"For the las' damn time I'm no' playing tha' Glob forsaken song, now shut the bloo'y 'ell up!"

"You only don't like Pon Pon Pon because you're not happy with your life!" Sparky shouted as he waved around a pair of pink bloomers he got from who knows where.

"Listen yew punk, yew still owe me a new bass guitar!"

"You have one right now! What do you need another one for?!"

"The one you broke was different, no' that I'd expect you to know tha'. This one is smalleh."

"And so what if it's smaller?"

"I don't like it as much, tha's wha'!"

"Oh, so are you compensating for something then, Mr. tiny?" Within an instant, the bassist was running up the stairs, swinging his little bass into the air and unplugging it from the amp in the progress. Sparky ran back up the stairs, doing a mixture of laughing and screaming as he remained just inches away from certain death.

Stu remained motionless on the couch, still sipping at his beer lightly as the sound of thumping and smashing was heard from the top floor.

But among all this chaos, his mind was still well fixated upon something else.

He eventually got up, placed his beer upon the table, and headed for the door, grabbing his car keys from a side table before putting on a heavy jacket and walking outside.

He went to the AEC, not caring that it was close to nine at night, and made his way over the fence, then he walked over to the spot where he usually watched Noodle play her guitar. He looked at the tree she usually sat up against. It was nothing but a black silhouette slightly illuminated in the light of the full moon, and her little guitar case was propped up against it. He walked over and touched the very top of it, his hand immediately freezing after it came in contact with the very cold material. He looked behind the tree, and wondered that if he kept heading in this direction, the direction she always went after playing, he'd perhaps end up at her house.

He took a chance and marched forward, dodging trees and random bushes for a good ten minutes before finally coming to a clearing. He noticed straight ahead was a tiny white house with a thin, long driveway leading out to a road that was mostly hidden by the trees surrounding it. Outside were fancy little pots, perfectly aligned along the pathway leading to the house. There was a single small shed that was right beside the house, perhaps only twenty feet from the front door. Stu walked forward, noticing that just about all the lights inside were off, except for what looked like the kitchen. He was fairly close to the home, not one hundred percent sure as to what he was doing, or planning on doing, but he knew without a doubt that this must be where his little love lived.

Stu jumped when he suddenly saw the front porch light get turned on, and the door to the house swing open. Before Stu could see who was coming out, he jumped behind the shed that was nearby and peaked out the side just a little, only to see a skinny Japanese man come walking out, wearing what looked like a very comfortable black robe. He leaned down to a small wooden wagon and looked inside, reaching his hand in every now and then and seemingly moving things around, before he whispered a few words to himself and walked back inside. Stu came out from behind the shed the moment the front porch light went off again, and he tried looking inside the house to see if he noticed any sign of his little love, but there was only that man, shuffling around the house and checking on multiple plants that he had all around the living room.

Suddenly from out of nowhere, Noodle came into the room, wearing a pretty pink kimono, and she seemed incredibly upset. As Stu looked closer, she had a cut upon her cheek, and her bangs were all thick over her eyes again. She went over to the man, who Stu at this point presumed was her father, and she put her hands in a prayer formation, and she seemed to be begging him for something. The man looked at her sternly and shook his head no, crossing his arms before saying a few words that obviously upset her worse. She started to yell, it seemed, and the man continued to look at her emotionlessly before taking his hand and slapping her across the face, so hard that she ended up on the ground.

Stu's heart sunk deep into his stomach and he gave out an audible gasp as he used every muscle in his body to keep himself from charging right through the door and knocking that guy unconscious. The man continued to speak to her calmly, leaving her there on the floor to cry before he left the room.

Stuart had no clue on what to do. A single tear ran down his face as he looked to the ground, now adorning a shocked expression. He knew he had to do something, but what?

The young girl got up after a little while, her hand still attached to her cheek as her other hand inspected her teeth, as she had hit the floor with a lot of force and may have knocked something loose. She walked over to the front door, slowly opening it up and walking outside before closing it as gently as possible, not wanting to make a sound. She walked over to a bench on the porch, her hands over her eyes as she cried intensely, yet quietly. Stu walked over to her, and stood right in front of her, wondering what he should do to get her attention while at the same time not scaring her to death.

He failed in that attempt once she looked up and saw him, and immediately jumped and gave out a small whine before realizing who it was and calming down.

"What are you doing here?" She whispered to him, holding back tears still.

"Yew 'aven't been at teh AEC in a while, I was worried."

"Didn't I tell you not to worry? Why did you come here? If my father sees you he will call the police!"

"Why don' yew call the police on him?! 'E's beatin' yew!"

"He is not beating me. He is disciplining me. He's just very strict and…"

"Noodal-"

"I didn't say you could call me that again! Go home!"

"Noo- Xia, please, I-"

"Go!" She got up from the bench and was about to head towards the door, when he grabbed her wrist and she immediately yelped out in pain.

"Stop it! Don't touch me!" He more gently reached out for her arm and pulled her forward, lifting up her sleeve to reveal a massive bruise all around her wrist. It was swelling up and looked as though she could barely move it. Stu looked at her painfully, wondering if she realized how serious this situation was.

"I… I fell."

"Yew fell?" He wasn't believing it for a second, especially since she wasn't even making eye contact with him anymore. He reached out and placed a cold hand upon her cheek and faced her towards him, then he moved his other hand up to move her bangs out of her eyes like he did before. Her gorgeous green eyes were tainted with blue and purple marks, and she had a large bandage taped to her forehead. She looked straight into his eyes and whispered,

"Toochie, save me." She just about fell into his arms, crying intensely into his chest as he held onto her and tried to think of something to do, and fast.

"Xia? Where are you?" The man suddenly made himself visible in the room again, and Stu just about shrieked before picking up Noodle in his arms and taking off into the forest. She wasn't wearing any shoes, so he didn't want her pricking her perfect little toes on anything.

He ran faster than he ever had before, every now and then he had to remind himself that tripping or falling could mean either jail time or death for him, after all, he was technically stealing a girl from her father.

He finally came to the smaller clearing where Noodle's guitar was kept, and he slowed down and turned around, listening out for any sign of someone running after them. Before he was about to start running again, Noodle suddenly flung her arm out to the side, reaching for the case on the tree.

"Toochie, grab my guitar!"

"But we gotta go!"

"Just do it! I'll hold it!" He went over to the little guitar case and bent down so that she could grab it. The extra weight did not help their situation one bit, but he kept running, trying to pretend it wasn't there.

They came to the fence, and Noodle threw the case over it before jumping from Stuart's arms and landing on top of it, she then held out a hand for the man to grab onto as he too jumped the fence, but with not nearly as much grace as she did.

He picked her up again and ran towards the car, thanking his past self for leaving it unlocked as he marched right up to it and placed Noodle down by the passengers side before opening up the door and running around the side to get in the drivers seat.

He sat down and shook intensely, not only from the adrenaline rush he was experiencing at the moment, but also from the fact that it was freezing cold out there, even with a jacket on. He looked over at his passenger, who had this look of fear and dread upon her face. Her bangs were all out of place, revealing her wide, green eyes, which looked over at Stu and gave him a dirty look.

"Start the car, you psycho!" He jumped and quickly put the key in the ignition, cussing under his breath as the car was refusing to start.

"No! Come on, please, please work!" He slammed his head into the steering wheel, which caused the horn to sound throughout the empty parking lot.

Noodle reached over and messed with the keys herself, and soon, the car turned on. Stu looked up and shouted in glee before putting the car in drive and zipping out of there like his life depended on it, which it kind of did.

There was an extreme silence that came over them as they made their way onto the road. It lasted for at least five minutes before little Noodle began to giggle, and she looked over at Stu, who was not in any way amused by any of this.

"Why are yew laughin'?"

"Because," she covered her mouth, a huge smile coming across her lips as she looked up at him with great admiration in her eyes, "this entire night, it is like a dramatic movie."

"I'm 'appy yew fin' real life dramatic movieh's teh be funneh." He said, trying to be stern, but sounding more like he was simply scared to death.

"So, are you taking me back to your home?"

"Well, I'm no' goin' teh bring yew back to yor 'ohme, tha's for sure." He managed to smile a little, but he still couldn't quite understand how she was able to be all giggly like this after what just happened less than ten minutes ago.

"Stu, will you help me to start a new life?"

"A new life?"

"Yes. I want to start over. I want to live a new life under a new name. I do not wish to be called Xia anymore."

"Oh, what do yew wan' teh be called then?"

"I want to be called Noodle."

"I lioke tha' much betteh, so long as I kin call yew eht."

"Of course you may call me that. You are my friend. You have done more for me tonight than anyone else has ever done for me in my lifetime." She leaned over and tenderly kissed his frozen cheek, making the cold, jittery man melt into a warmed up idiot with his tongue sticking out.

"Toochie, thank you for this. I owe you my life double now."

"Yew don' owe meh nuffin', luv. I'm jus' 'elping meh li'el Noodal is all." He looked back at her and shot her a full on grin, the side of his teeth stuck out just a tiny bit, and Noodle couldn't help but see it as the cutest thing she had ever seen.

She couldn't believe that people like Stu existed. People who were so hardheaded and stubborn when it came to things they knew were right. People who ignored their own safety just to help those in need. Maybe he was one of the few people like this left. Maybe, in her world at least, he was the only person like that left.

And maybe, this lovable idiot who turned from "the guy who stared her down in class" to "her hero", would prove to be a little bit more than just a kind and gentle friend.

And maybe, just maybe, he'd prove to be a lot more than that.

* * *

**Eeeeey! Happy New Year everyone!**

**My friend from Sweden says the new year is going great for him so far. Tonight I pretended he was from the future since 2015 has already come for them!**

**So everyone, do you have any interesting new years resolutions?**

**I'd like to give more to people, to fully learn how to play my bass and become really good at it, and I'd like to write more, and get a book published!**

**I'd like to accomplish at least two of those things :)**

**Alright everyone, I'm over and out from 2014,**

**R&amp;R!**

**-The Symmetricalist**


	12. Letting Her Know

**Hiiii!**

**Did you all have a good New Year? I had a fun experience with talking to my friends in other countries who were already in 2015 and pretending like they were time travelers.**

**I think I said that already.**

**Or did I?**

**Anyhow, next chapter is here! It is also the first that I decided to get pre-read by my fellow fanfictioner castrophany-and-autonomy (If I spelled that wrong forgive me :) Shes a really awesome writer, so go check out her stuff when you're done here!**

**Remember to ER&amp;R! Enjoy, Read, and Review!**

* * *

*~*~*Chapter 12*~*~*

~*~*Letting Her Know*~*~

They soon arrived at the small house, both the escapee and her helper exhausted from the long night they just experienced. Stu carried both Noodle and her guitar to the door, still not wanting her bare feet to touch the driveway, which no doubt had pieces of glass and other tiny sharp things riddling it. He opened the door, and instead of hearing the yelling and banging he heard earlier when he left, he heard some noises coming from the TV, as well as the talking and -laughter?- of the two men he had left alone to kill each other.

Stu walked in and closed the door, the little guitarist girl right behind him, holding tightly onto the case she brought all the way from the forest as if her life depended on it. He came into the living room, seeing that all the lights were off, and on the TV, one of his zombie games was being played.

"I am telling' yew, go in tha' shed, righ' there. I saw somefink go in there!"

"We are trying to avoid the zombies you lunatic!" Sparky shouted as he held on to the shotgun shaped controller and shook as though he was actually in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Murdoc was right next to him, drinking a beer and laughing at the man who kept saying "Fear isn't funny!"

"Well, maybe it wasn' a zombie tha' wen' in there. Maybe eht was a hot bikini model."

"I don't swing that way," Sparky said before he swung the gun around and hit Murdoc right in the face with it, "I swing this way!"

"I tol' yew ten times not to do tha' and yew go an' do eht on purpose!" He put down his beer and quickly grabbed the man by the collar, silently threatening to murder him.

"Oh hey Blooby is home!"

"Who?" The men turned to Stu, who had Noodle by his side, the girl still giggling a little as she thought about the night she just had.

"Oh hey! You're that girl who went into Blooby's room then ran out being sad! What did he do to you, by the way?" Sparky asked as he was released by Murdoc, who now had a devilish smile on his face.

"Ah, so you wen' out to git your bird for the night, didn' yew now?"

"Well, I sort of jus'-"

"Excuse me, I don't know what you're assuming, but Stuart here just saved my life and he is offering to let me stay here until I can get on my own feet. So no, he did not bring me here for any selfish reasons, now get that out of your head before I beat it out of you." She said sternly to the accusing man, who politely backed down, a grin still on his face as he thought of something witty to say that he really shouldn't say, but he was going to say anyway.

"Yew like 'em feisty I see, somethin' we both have in common. But I don' go afteh girls tha' young." Noodle suddenly grabbed him by the shoulders and threw him forward off the couch, landing him with a huge thunk onto the coffee table.

He looked back in shock, realizing that maybe he shouldn't mess with this girl.

"Well wha' was tha' for?!"

"For being an insensitive dirt bag." Noodle turned to Stu and grabbed his hand tenderly, "Stuart? Where will I be sleeping tonight?"

"Uh, well yew coul' sleep in my room, an' I'll jus' sleep down here wit' Sparks an' Muh'doc…"

"No, I refuse to kick you out of your own bed for the night. Come, I have a plan." Noodle suddenly started dragging him up the stairs, leaving the two men behind, one who was now in pain from both being thrown and having a plastic gun rammed into his face all within a four minute timeline.

"That's why you should learn to keep your mouth shut, Mr. Tiny." Sparky immediately regretted not taking his own advice as he very soon found himself on the floor being choked right after having given it.

Noodle ran into the bedroom, still dragging Stu along before she let go of him and shut the door. She ran up to him, a huge smile on her face as she hugged him around the side and physically shook with excitement.

"This is so amazing! This is my very first time sleeping over at somebody's house!"

"Well, I wouldn' consider this a sleepover." Stu chuckled as he held onto her and resisted the urge to pick her up and swing her around in a circle, he was equally as excited about her being here, but he really was trying not to show it, lest his excitement come off as creepy.

"Don't be silly! Come on, let's jump on the bed!" Noodle ran over to the bed and jumped up on it, removing her kimono after doing so and revealing a pair of black, very short shorts, and a tiny white tank top that didn't seem to fit her very well, as it was very loose and could easily reveal a lot. Thankfully, for her modesty, she was wearing a little sports bra underneath.

"Come on, don't you want to jump with me?"

"Uh, I'm-" She grabbed his hands and pulled him forward, sliding his heavy jacket off and revealing his blue T-shirt and lanky spaghetti arms.

"Alright, well if you don't want to jump with me, the least you could do is find some music to play for me."

"Music?" Stu said excitedly. This was his calling!

He grabbed his phone from his pocket and immediately went into his play list, where the song Pon Pon Pon was on top. He hit it, and turned up the volume as loud as he possibly could.

"I love this song!" She shouted happily before singing along to the song, word for word with no problem at all. She danced the same exact dance that the girl in the video did, and did it without missing a beat at all. Stu did nothing, he just stood there with his mouth wide open and his eyes not blinking, providing enough entertainment for Noodle to look over at him and laugh every time she did.

She finished by reaching over, grabbing Stu by the head, and planting a big, passionate kiss upon his lips. He sighed happily and smiled as their lips made a satisfying smooch sound once she pulled away. She sat down in front of him, and hugged him around the sides, laying her ear right against his stomach. He put his hands into her hair and ran them through, pulling back at her bangs and placing them behind her ears. She giggled and lifted up his shirt, just enough to reveal his navel, and she leaned down and tickled his sides, which made him fall forward onto the bed in laughter. He tried reaching out for right under her arms so that he could return the favor, but he couldn't quite do anything but lay there and painfully laugh as she relentlessly ravaged his sides.

He grabbed her hands and used just a little strength to push her away. He knew for a fact that if she wanted to, she could simply ignore whatever he was trying to do and continue to tickle him, but he had a weird, intriguing look in his eyes, so she allowed him to raise her arms up and place her backwards onto the bed. He found himself on top of her, and he suddenly had no clue on what to do next.

She helped him with that as she lifted up her hand to his light blue locks and pulled his head down to meet her neck. Without a doubt, he knew what to do next, and he opened up his mouth and placed his lips to her skin, grazing his teeth against it and mentally biting his lip as she grabbed on tighter to his hair and gasped.

"If you want to bite, you can." She whispered with a smile as she ran her warm hand down to his neck and ran a circle into it with her finger. His heart jumped and he moved up to her ear, trying to only be concerned with what she was feeling, but the slightest selfish desires were soon leaking into his heart as he pictured just what they could do if she was being this submissive to him.

She pushed on his chest with her other hand and flipped him over, her lips crashing into his as she made it clear that she would like to lead this little thing now. He complied, although a little upset that he wasn't controlling much anymore, but he reasoned that this was about giving and taking, and not just being the one making the decisions.

She pulled away and placed herself on top of him, tapping her fingers on the rim of his shirt before lifting it up and pulling it over his head.

"Toochie…" She whispered as she ran her fingers up his chest and leaned her lips down to kiss his collarbone, leading up to his neck. He went wide eyed and daringly placed his own hands just underneath her tank top, holding onto her bare waist as she left bite marks all over his skin.

"Toochie," She whispered again, sounding slightly out of breath in an incredibly sexy way, and allowing the true nature of her lack of energy to come out, "I can't do any more tonight."

"I know." He said, a little upset at that fact, but totally understanding the situation, and being happy that he got this far with her.

"I still want to sleep here with you though. Just sleep." She caressed his face and dismounted from her position on top of him, and laid down facing him as he turned towards her, and they seemed to sigh simultaneously.

He held up his hand and she placed hers within it. He reached out his arm to hold onto her and he pulled her in close, smiling happily as she drifted off to sleep right next to him. He couldn't sleep just yet though, he kept having to look at her, know she was still there, and finally convince his brain that yes, there was finally a human being sleeping next to him, breathing softly and giving him the constant reminder that he was alive.

This right here was the one thing he always wanted.

The next day, he woke up, the sun blinding him as he looked up and realized his curtains were pulled open. He never had them open, so maybe Noodle did it. Speaking of her, he looked over at the spot where she was sleeping last night, and saw her wrapped up in his blankets, her face turned away from him. His heart felt soft as he raised himself up and put his hand on her, hoping to awaken her so he could see her beautiful face.

After no response, he lowered his head down to her ear and whispered,

"Goodmornin', luv." He then smiled as she turned over and looked at him, sighing heavily as her tired eyes laid themselves on his.

"Five more minutes." She whimpered, looking like a little yukkuri burrito as she fell back asleep. He wondered why on earth she would open up the curtains to let in the sun if she didn't even want to wake up at the moment.

"I'm no' rushin' yew, luv," He said softly, giving out a yawn before realizing it was pretty cold in the room for some reason, "in fact, kin I sneak in there wit' yew?" He poked at her little bundle of his blankets, and she opened up one eye to look at him, then look down at her blankets, and then back at him.

"Well, you did risk your life to save me last night…" She mumbled before shuffling around and loosening up the bundle before submerging her entire head into it. She popped open a hole on the side, just big enough for him to climb into, and he accepted the warm invitation into her little cozy blanket cave.

She pounced on him the moment the blankets were fully around the both of them, and she immediately began to kiss at his neck and make him giggle with delight.

"Wot are yew doin', luv?"

"Finishing what we started, of course." She continued the kissing, soon turning it into nibbling, especially upon his ear lobe.

"Bu' we 'aven' even 'ad breakfas' ye'!"

"Why do you think I'm eating you up?" She smiled, very satisfied with her witty attempt at sexy talk, and she climbed on top of him, resuming her position from last night.

"Uh, I 'ave a question." Stu asked before she began her ravaging again.

"Yes, Toochie?"

"Why are meh curtains open?"

"I opened them last night to look at the moon."

"Oh, okay."

"By the way, you realize tonight is New Years Eve."

"Eht is?"

"Yep."

"Oh."

"And, last night while I was looking at the moon, a thought came through my head."

"Wot was eht?"

"Um, well, I wanted to do something special for you. I wanted to repay you for everything you have done for me, but I didn't know how."

"Yew don' 'ave-"

"No, I need to give you something. Something special." Stu had an idea on where this was going, but he wasn't sure if he was happy about it, or a little nervous.

"Noods yew really don'-"

"Let me do this, okay?" She looked down at her shirt, and reached down the top of it, pulling out a small golden chain, and attached to it was a key. She undid it from her neck, and put it down in his palm.

"Wot's t'is?"

"When I was a little girl, my mother told me to give this to the first man who tried his absolute hardest, who did everything in his power, just to make me happy. I'm giving it to you."

"Bu', Noodal…"

"Toochie, you… you're the only man who has ever made me this happy. Thank you." She caressed his face, and he looked down at his palm, realizing just how beautiful this little golden key really was.

"Are yew sure I'm the man this is meant for? I mean, I'm so much older than yew, I've never even finished school or-"

"I don't care about that stuff. You make me happy, I don't care how old you are or what you have or haven't accomplished. You have shown me something that very, very few people have shown me, and that's love."

"Luv?"

"Yeah." She leaned down and kissed his nose, and he smiled bigger than he had ever smiled before. He did love her, he was absolutely sure of it.

"Yew two love birds can' seriously still be at it, can yew?" A third voice was suddenly heard within the room, and the two little lovers jumped under the blankets.

"Uh, who's there?"

"Who the 'eck do yew think? Come downstairs, the big milk dud made you breakfas'."

"Milk dud?"

"The tall bloke who liokes teh break stuff." The voice was now coming from the hallway, and it was made evident that he had left. Stu lifted the blankets and looked at the clock on his phone that had ended up on the side table last night.

"Eht's close to eight. Do yew fink there is class today?"

"I don't know, I mean, tomorrow is new years, not today. I'm not sure."

"Tha' teacher guy said classes begin today though."

"I would call and see. I honestly think I'm just going to quit for now, I'll start again when things have settled."

"Well, I fink I kin understan' tha' luv." Stu leaned over and gave her another kiss upon the lips, then pulled away to leave before Noodle grabbed him by the shoulders and stopped him.

"I didn't say I was done with you yet."

"Where is Blooby? His chocolate waffles are getting cold!" Sparky asked angrily, his fist clenching a dirty spatula as his other tried to single handedly undo the knot on the back of his apron that said "My Buns are the Best!"

"Heheh, 'e an' 'is girl aren' quite finished yet. Give 'em an hour." Murdoc said as he walked over to the little table next to the kitchen and sat down in a chair.

"Well I don't have an hour! What are they doing anyway?!"

"Playin' cards."

"Playing cards? Why are they playing cards?!"

"Jus' wanted to, I guess." Suddenly, the sound of thumping rang throughout the house, and it got louder and louder before the two came running down the stairs, giggling as they made their way to the couch and ended up all tangled up together as they playfully wrestled.

"Blooby! I made you chocolate waffles!"

"Yew di'!?" Stu's head popped up from the couch like a meerkat surveying the territory before he jumped over the seat and made his way into the kitchen, sitting down in the table across from Murdoc as he awaited the waffles. He tried his best to ignore the accusing grin that the other man had, but once he started snickering, he couldn't help but wonder what exactly he was thinking.

"Wot's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing'. I jus' found this morning' teh be pretteh, uh, how woul' yew say it? Ironic?"

"What is ironic?" Noodle asked as she suddenly appeared behind him, her arms crossed as she waited for him to say something more.

"Nothin', love. It wasn' nothin'."

"I want to make something straight, again. Whatever you're thinking, it didn't happen, okay? And even if it did, how would it effect you to the point where you'd have to tease poor Stu about it?"

"'Ow am I teasin' 'im? I'd be congratulating 'im if it di' 'appen, you're quite a catch, yew know?"

"Oh whatever, listen I know what-"

"Waffles! Anybody want waffles!?" Sparky saved the day by walking over with a platter full of chocolate waffles, and slamming it down right in front of the three. Sparky was about to sit down next to Stu before there was suddenly a knock at the door.

"See, this is how good my waffles are. Even the neighbors want some!" Sparky left the scene, and Noodle quickly jumped into the seat that he was about to sit in. He opened up the door and revealed Jaya, the girl who had the gun and was shooting Terri and the girl Sparky called Little Perv, and Russell, a man who he didn't know.

"Hi, Sparky, we wanted to invite you to a-" Sparky suddenly slammed the door in their faces for no apparent reason, then he leaned up against it and looked out the peephole.

"Why di' yew slam teh door?" Stu attempted to ask through a mouthful of waffle.

"There was a big guy next to her who I didn't know. He was taller than me. People who are taller than me scare me." There was suddenly a much louder knock and Sparky reluctantly opened it again.

"What the hell did you do that for, man? She's trying to invite you to a party tonight!"

"Ooh a party? Will there be cake?" Sparky asked, suddenly intrigued. Jaya nodded her head yes, about to hand him an invitation before he started asking more questions.

"Will there be finger foods?"

"Yes." Jaya said, again attempting to give him the invitation, but he didn't seem interested in grabbing it.

"Will there be, ummm, fireworks?"

"Yes."

"Candy?"

"Yes."

"Dancing?"

"Yes."

"Music?"

"You can't really dance without music…"

"Whack-a-mole?"

"Uh, no…"

"Party games?"

"Yes."

"Party favors?"

"Yes."

"Flat screen televisions?"

"Um, I don't know, it's at Terri's house not mi-"

"Pin the tail on the donkey?"

"I don't-"

"Karaoke?"

"I hope so-"

"Pole dancing poles?"

"No…"

"Will there be broom sticks?"

"Uh, I guess so…?"

"That's all I need. Stu and I will meet you there at three o' clock!"

"But the party doesn't start until-" Sparky slammed the door once again and ran back to the table.

"Stu and I are invited to a party tonight!"

"Wha' abou' me?!" Murdoc asked, angry that he wasn't even mentioned by Sparky.

"You can stay home and baby sit Pasta."

"What?!" Noodle jumped from her seat and looked up at him, admitting that he was far too tall to simply get in his face.

"Bu' Sparks, I'm sure if we're invited then Muds an' Noodal kin come too." Stu tried to reason with Sparky, who was simply nodding his head, ignoring the fact that he didn't even know anything about the party besides the fact that there will be one.

"Nope, somebody has to stay home and care for little Macaroni. And I say that will be Mr. Tiny here." He pointed to Murdoc, who was not amused in the slightest by any of this.

"Do you even know how old I am?!" Noodle yelled, to which Sparky just looked down at her and giggled.

"You're younger than all of us, I know that. So that makes you the baby."

"Where is t'is party even gonna be at?" Murdoc asked, to which Sparky just stared at him and shrugged his shoulders.

"Yew don' know? Seriously, do yew even know the time eht will be at?!"

"Nope. I figured we could just roam the neighborhood for a few hours and wait until we see a lot of cars in front of one house."

"Eht is New Years Friggin' Eve, every 'ouse on the street is goin' teh be 'avin' a party!"

"Well I'll walk into every one of them and see if Terri and Little Perv are there!" Everyone looked at Sparky with disbelief, silence coming over them for a moment before Murdoc got up and walked towards the front door. He opened it up, walked out, and slammed it shut, causing the house to shake as they all sort of wondered where he was going.

After a few minutes of continuous waffle eating, the third man walked back in, this time holding a little card with balloons on it.

"The party is at five tonight, we are asked to bring one refreshment, no alcohol. There is apparently going teh be a bartender there for portion control or sumthin' since the girl throwing the party doesn' wan' anybody drunk in 'er 'ouse."

"Sounds reasonable. I've never heard of portion control at a party, but it sounds like a good idea." Noodle said, which earned a glare from the man holding the invitation.

"The entire point uh New Years is teh ge' wasted an' wake up in the next year wit' no memory uh the nigh' before, ehts the closes' we'll ever ge' teh time travel. Withou' alcohol it's jus' another party."

"Maybe the hostess of the party doesn't want her guests making bad decisions the day before they resolve to not make any more bad decisions."

"Well I'll show 'er. I'll show up at the party alrea'y drunk. See wha' she'll do about' tha'." Murdoc made his way over to the fridge and immediately grabbed a can of beer.

"The party isn't starting for almost nine hours, why are you drinking now?"

"Well I 'ave teh practice acting sober while being stone hard drunk." He took a big gulp shamelessly, and the young girl shook her head at him, hoping that not all of Stuart's friends were like this guy.

"Muds, before yew git drunk, shouldn' we be goin' teh class?"

"Stu, tha' place will be closed until next week. Lil' miss Robinson tol' me that we start actual classes on Monday."

"Really? Well then why di' tha' guy tell me teh come in today?"

"Wha' guy?"

"The guy who was talkin' teh me."

"The guy from yesterday? I neveh saw tha' guy before tha'."

"Yew didn'? Well, maybe 'e was new an' 'e didn' know the schedule?"

"Idunno, maybe. Either way, I go' a party teh be ready for tonight, so nobody bug me." He walked away, but not before grabbing two more beers from the fridge and somehow holding all three with no issue.

Stu had to admit that it was very weird that a random man who neither he nor Murdoc had ever seen before had come up to him and told him to come in on a day the school would be closed. It seemed unlikely that he was new there, as he gave off the attitude that he had been there a while. But for now, our protagonist decided to not worry himself with something like that. Instead, he decided to look over at his little love, and smile, knowing that he finally had someone to call his own.

* * *

**I really need to work on these chapter names better.**

**I hope you all enjoyed! R&amp;R!**

**-The Symmetricalist**


	13. Revolution

**Confession.**

**I've had this chapter ready for about a week now, but got so ruffled and raffled with the waffles of this world (Wat?) that I haven't been able to upload until now.**

**Um, I would absolutely hate to make this authors note longer with an unnecessary advertisement for a thingy of mine, and I despise these myself, but I figure if I put it at the bottom no one will see it... **

**Nah I'm putting it at the bottom I don't wanna be pushy :)**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 13**

**Revolution**

"Is this it?" Noodle asked as Stu drove them up to a modest little home in the middle of the suburbs. There were only two cars out in front, a black one and a red one, and now three as the group stepped out of the Cavvy and into the front lawn.

"I've been to Terri's house once with Lil Perv. This looks like the place." Sparky said in a late response as they all started walking up to the front door. Before they even reached the porch, a young girl, probably only in her 20's, swung open the door and greeted the three. Stu immediately recognized her from Sunday, she had gotten in a fight with the one Sparky kept calling Little Perv.

"Hi there! I'm Terri, I'm the one who's throwing this party-" She began talking, but another girl, the one she had gotten in a fight with that day, shoved her out of the way rather suddenly.

"They know you're throwing the party, okay? Quit being so gosh dang formal all the time!"

"Well I want to be _proper_, sorry if that offends you, Ms. Hourglass!"

"You say that like it's really going to offend me."

"Do you wanna fight me again?!"

"I'll rip you limb from limb, you limp noodle!" Just then, Jaya walked in between them and separated the two.

"Welcome, come inside please!" She stepped aside and allowed the four to step in to the warm atmosphere inside. There was music playing, but it was fairly low, you could just somewhat tell that it was the song Clap Your Hands by Sia. The place was small when you first walked in, but once Stuart stepped around a bit and explored, he saw that there was a large, empty hall, perfect for dancing. There was a small bar set up on the side with a young man behind it wearing a tuxedo T-shirt. It didn't take long to discover that this man was Danny.

"Oh hey! 2D boy!" He shouted the moment he saw Stu walk into the mostly empty room.

"Hi Danny, someone 'as yew workink teh bar tonigh'?"

"Yep, Jaya said her friend Terri needed a bartender to keep everyone in line. She didn't want her first house party to turn into a disaster."

"Well, I shoul' prolly warn 'er tha' two uh meh frien's decided to git drunk before the party."

"Eh, that was expected, by me at least. You can't just tell people not to get drunk on New Years, it's a tradition."

"True, an'-" Stu was cut off by a very, very loud electronic screeching noise, which was coming from a small karaoke machine in the far side of the room that Sparky was now messing with.

"D-Cup-san, do you have any Dollar Sign Lady?" The tall man asked as he tapped a microphone and caused a loud thumping sound to be heard from the speakers. Russell suddenly came out of seemingly nowhere and pushed Sparky aside before turning off the machine and facing him, arms crossed and face tense.

"Boy, do I need to beat you? The party has barely started yet, just be patient. Terri doesn't want her machine busted, alright?"

"YOU say the party has barely started, but see, I say we need to get it started. That's why we need Dollar Sign Lady."

"That's why you need to go sit down before I make you see Dollar Signs."

"YOOOOUUU don't scare me, Rogerson." Sparky slurred as he poked Russell's nose. Stu came over quickly once he had seen the scene that was unfolding, and tried pulling the taller man away before the even taller, huskier man beat him to death.

A little bit later, off in another corner of the room, a small group of girls, which consisted of Terri, Little Perv, and at least three other girls who were entirely new to the scene, were all in a little circle, giggling and laughing to themselves, all drinking different things, some alcoholic, some not. Noodle looked at them, first with interest, then with shame. A few more people had arrived since they had, so why are they limiting their socializing to each other, when they could be having fun with all these other people?

And then she looked at herself and realized _she _hadn't even gone up to one unfamiliar person since she walked in this place. She was for the most part following Russell around, and when he met up with an old buddy who he wanted to talk to, she went and found Stu and sat with him, since he wasn't socializing much either, but at least trying. She had repeated this pattern at least three times already, each time coming back and looking at that little group, realizing that the one girl, Little Perv, was now away from the clique.

And was with Jaya, talking to Stu, even sitting down next to him.

She felt a little heat go to the back of her neck, but shook it off and walked over to Russell, whom was now talking with Danny at the bar.

"Hi guys." She mumbled as she came right next to her old pal and rested her elbows upon the bar table.

"Hey baby girl, why ain't you talking with anyone?"

"There is not anybody to talk to." She sighed, realizing too late that that was a very silly statement.

"Nobody to talk to? I see at least fifteen people in this room who you have not ever met before. Go talk to someone, girl!"

"None of these people are interesting, Russell."

"Come on, be a good sport. Go talk to that group of girls over there, I bet you you'll make friends with at least one of them." He put a hand on her shoulder and pointed to the group she had been staring at this entire time. She winced at the very thought of even speaking to them, even the way they talked was so _cliché._ Their outfits were all similar, their hairstyles were identical. It was impossible to tell one from the other without looking directly at their faces. The only exception in this group was Terri, who actually looked out of place, and seemed to be trying her hardest to fit in.

Noodle very much doubted that she'd even have a brain cell in common with one of these girls.

But, for the sake of her best friend's asking, she waltzed herself over to the group, and tried to sneak in on an open corner.

"So, like, I was saying to her, like, I was saying, "Tiffany, no. Tiffany, stop that. You can NOT wear that eye shadow with that shade of lipstick." It's just BEGGING to become a cosmetic disaster, is it not?" Noodle swore that she lost at least 2% of her thinking capacity just listening to that sentence.

"Ha ha… Yeah, I mean, Pfft! Like, who would have thought, that… uh, you could ruin a whole look… just by using the wrong cosmetic products, right?" Terri added in nervously, turning absolutely red as she tried to add to the conversation.

"I knowww, wow, you get this like really, really well, Tara." A different girl patted her shoulder and sincerely said to her, but the other two rolled their eyes and checked their nails in vanity.

"My name isn't-"

"Hi, guys!" Noodle chimed in happily, noting to herself how out of character she sounded right then and there. This "fitting in" business was not going to work, she could tell.

"Hi _Guys_? Do we LOOK like members of the Y chromosome to you?" The girl who was discussing Tiffany's cosmetic mistakes giggled at her own rather rude remark.

_"__Chromosome, that's a big word for a girl who's been talking about colored powder for the past half hour." _That's what Noodle _wanted _to say, but she bit her tongue and smiled a fake grin, just so she could avoid making a scene.

"So, anyhow, Tara, how is the boyfriend going?" The girl shot her a pervy smile that basically just said "Tell us all the dirty stuff and make yourself look like a slut."

"Oh, uh, boyfriend? I don't have… uh, a boyfriend."

"What? Why not?" The girl next to the snobby girl looked like she was about to have a heart attack.

"Uh, because I don't… Want one?"

"Tara, honey, listen, it doesn't matter if you want a boy toy or not. But if you stay single, people might think you're… You know…" Noodle was just standing there being ignored, but also listening in, and honestly becoming a tad bit pissed off. Who did this girl think she was?

"But, I'm not."

"Yeah but people might think you _are._"

"So what if they think I am? I don't really care."

"Honey, you can't be seen with other girls in public, especially not one on one, if you don't have a boyfriend. It's kinda like being, you know, already."

"Hey, how about you lay off of her? Maybe she has her own reasons for being single, you can't just outright tell her she's dating her friends if she isn't dating a man." The young girl finally spoke up, realizing there really wasn't anything to be afraid of.

"If the town only ever sees her with girls and not guys, she's going to be seen as a lesbian. You realize that right?"

"And what's wrong with that? They don't know the truth, and it really shouldn't matter to them. And I very much doubt it would matter to anyone but you and your cookie cutter clique."

"Ha! I bet you're her little girlfriend, aren't you?" Noodle suddenly shot up and slapped her right across the face, knocking the drink right out of her hand and making her stumble, almost falling flat.

"You, you little-"

"Say it, go ahead. I'm not afraid of people like you." Noodle was so caught up in the moment that she didn't even realize that her bangs, which she did well over her eyes as always, had become parted, and were revealing her bruise. The girl she slapped pointed to it and smiled evilly.

"Do you go around hitting people a lot, little one? Did someone hit back and that's how you got that bruise?" She used a very teasing tone of voice, and poor Noodle flushed absolutely red, both with sadness and anger. She quickly covered up her bruise again and ran across the room into a hall, then locked herself up in a bathroom.

Everyone concerned, including Russell, Danny, Stu, and even Terri too, all looked in her direction, all wondering what they should do, and if they should do it.

Russell looked at Stu, who was looking at the bathroom door longingly, wondering if he should wait a bit before knocking and seeing if she was okay, or if he should go now, despite the fact that she'd probably tell him to go away.

Our protagonist turned around to face the man who was staring at him, and he very honestly shrugged his shoulders and whispered,

"I dun' know wot teh do."

"I'll take care of it." Russell said as he placed his cup down onto the bar rather forcefully and started heading in the direction of the girls who had made his little friend cry. Stu was almost sure that he met he'd take care of Noodle, as in, go into the bathroom and comfort her, but he then realized he met that he was going to go and give those young women a piece of his mind.

Which meant that it was now up to Stuart to stop being afraid of uncertainty and to get moving.

Right after he chugged down his "liquid courage."

On a far away corner of the house on an outdoor porch stood our classic duo, Sparky and Murdoc, who were both drinking up another round of whatever kind of alcohol that Danny dude gave them. The shorter, tanner man was pointing at the women walking by, and asking his drunken pal what he thought of them. Sparky wasn't quite interested in any of the girls he was pointing out, and it was baffling the girl-crazy man to tears.

"Wha' abou' 'er? Go' a nice rack, not too big nor too small, jus' righ'."

"Nah, she screams 'Skank.'"

"An' wha' is wrong wit' tha'?"

"Uh, skanks are gross?"

"Well, tha's where yew git careful. But take eht from Uncle Mudsy, there is a _reason_ why skanks exist."

"I'm telling you Mr. Tiny, I just don't swing that way. I swing this-" Sparky was about to enthusiastically slap Murdoc in the face just the way he had done last night, but his hand was quickly caught by a young, beautiful blonde who seemingly came out of nowhere.

"Hey, wanna dance with me?"

"I'm busy swinging _this way _though."

"Well you can swing _this way _with me!" She grabbed his arm and led him out onto the dance floor, leaving Murdoc alone, and flabbergasted.

"A privilege of bein' young tall an' handsome I suppose. An' 'e doesn' even _care_."

"Care about what?" The older man jumped at the sound of a young, high, feminine voice, and he turned towards the spot Sparky once occupied, and there stood the black haired, short, curvy young beauty known as Terri.

"Well, 'ello there." He sort of recognized her, but only now was he able to "appreciate" her "features", namely her chest.

"Oh! Are you a 60's fan too?!"

"Excuse me?" She excitedly grabbed his necklace with one hand and scruffled his hair playfully with the other.

"You are aren't you! What's your favorite band?"

"Um, Idunno, there are a lot of good bands, I guess?"

"Have you ever procreated?"

"Wha'?"

"Have you? Have you?"

"Uh, no' tha' I know uf, why are yew-"

"Oh, uh…" She looked down and realized she was all up in his face, and by the look he was giving her, he wasn't enjoying it. She quickly released him and came back to her original stance.

"I'm sorry. I just get a little freaked out when I find, you know, people I might have stuff in common with."

"Well despite your li'el outburst, I still find yew very uncommonly gorgeous." He looked her straight in the eyes, daring himself to actually go through with trying to pick up the crazy girl. Through all his years of woman hunting, he discovered he actually liked crazy, to a degree.

"Are you hitting on me?" She asked, and he gave a rough laugh before placing his hand gently on her shoulder.

"Maybe I am, love. Are yew goin' teh do somethin' abou' eht?" Suddenly, the girl named Terri jumped up and grabbed his face in her cold little fingers, slamming his chapped lips into her baby soft ones, and causing him to spill his beer in the process.

She let go and wiped her face, removing any excess saliva that she may have had on her. Murdoc just stood there stunned, that was probably the fastest he had ever gotten to kiss a girl right after meeting her. He smirked as he allowed his mind to drift off to what other things she might initiate within the night.

"Hey, can I just be honest with you?"  
"Uf course. Yew di' jus' kiss me."

"I don't know how to act around people. At all. I haven't ever even been hit on, and here I am at 24, getting hit on by a drunk old man. And what do I do? I kiss him!"

"Drunk old man?!"

"Older than me, okay? You're definitely old enough to be my dad."

"An' 'ow do yew figure tha'?"

"You have wrinkles."

"They aren' wrinkles, they're laugh lines! I laugh a lot, okay?"

"Yeah yeah, surrre. Oh! This song!"

"Wha' abou' eht?"

"This song has an _excellent _bass line! Wait here a second!" The girl suddenly took off into the house, but after a few seconds she came back out.

"By wait a second I meant come with me."

"Uh, okay." Murdoc reluctantly followed her inside, past the dancing young men and women, all the way to a hallway, and then into a room.

The room, which he presumed to be hers, was very neat and clean, with posters of great musical artists hanging up on the walls. Terri ran over to a small, pink, glittery bass guitar and picked it up.

"Any time I hear a song with a really good bass line, I try to play it by ear on Trixi."

"Trixi?"

"My bass's name." She plugged it into a small amp, and cranked it up way too high.

"Oh. Well I play bass too. Show me wha' you've got." Terri smiled big and placed the bass's strap around her neck, and for a moment she waited to hear how the song was going before she started going crazy on the bass, and not in a good way. It sounded like she was throwing the object down a flight of stairs.

"Stop! Stop eht!" Murdoc physically grabbed the neck of the bass and lifted the entire guitar off of her shoulders single handedly.

"Was it that bad?"

"Tha' bad?! Yew don' know 'ow teh play bass, do yew?"

"Well I uh… No."

"Yew insult me. For one, yew do not do _any _of wha' yew were doing." Murdoc then placed the bass gently around his own neck and turned the amp down to a more acceptable volume, "Yew are a novice, yew go soft with the bass, learn how to feel the music through your fingers. And for Pete's sake don' turn your amp up this lou' before yew learn wha' you're doing!"

"Well I usually wear headphones when I play."

"Yew connect the 'eadphones to the amp?"

"No to my MP3 player. I usually play better that way."

"Darlin', you're tricking yourself."

"How!?"

"Because yew ain' hearing your own playing. Now, watch me." He played a short, repetitive melody, and then he turned to her.

"Now, wha' chords di' I jus' play?"

"Um, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star?"

"No."

"Mary had a little lamb?"

"No! I wan' you to tell me the chords I played."

"Oh, like, the strings?"

"Yes."

"Well, um, you played the top one, and then…"

"Sit down."

"What?"

"Sit down on the bed. I'm giving you a lesson."

"A lesson?! In what!?"

"In Proper Bassist Etiquette. Now sit, you have a lot to learn."

_A little bit earlier_

Stu knocked nervously on the door, swallowing once to clear his throat before he tried to voice out his little love's name.

"Noods? Are, Are yew alrigh'?"

"Go away, Stu."

"I can'."

"Why not?"

"Because meh girl is sad."

"Then go make one of those pretty, perfect girls your girl and leave me alone."

"I'll admit, there are a lo' uh lovely birds 'ere. Bu' you're the one I wan'."

"Stu… Just, please."

"Le' me in, alrigh'? We'll have a party in the bathroom if yew wan', an' yew don' 'ave teh be aroun' those mean chicks anymore. An' we kin play any music we wan' teh!"

"I don't want to have a party. I just want to be alone."

"Well kin I be alone wit' yeh then?" She sighed heavily, and finally the _click _of the door being unlocked was heard. Stu walked in, and he saw Noodle sitting on the toilet seat, hunched over with her hands over her eyes, sobbing lightly. He quickly locked the door behind him so that no one would disturb them, and he crouched down in front of her. He touched her arms with both of his hands, ever so lightly, and he slowly dragged her hands away from her eyes. He then wiped away her tears, and then leaned up and kissed her softly.

She slowly scooted down off the seat and found a way to sit curled up in his arms, her head against his chest as he played with her hair gently.

"Toochie?"

"Yes, li'el luv?"

"I want to go home."

"Well, we kin leave teh party an'-"

"No, I want to go home to my Dad."

* * *

**BADOOM!**

**Aw, the little pandas are coming off my nails. And this is why writers and sculptors should not get their nails done with cheap paint.**

**So yeah I decided the thing I was talking about wasn't that important to go put on my story. If you're curious shoot me a PM and I'll tell you, but other than that, pfft.**

**I shall leave that one part at the top because I'm lazy and don't want to delete it. ;)**

**Okay, remember to R&amp;R!**

**That's Read and Review!**

**More reviews = more motivation to write. More motivation = more chappies! And for those of you currently reading I only have 4 reviews, so, pretty please more?**

**See ya on the flip side!**

**-TheSymmetricalist**


	14. She Said

**ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE A WORK AN ENTIRE WEEK IN THE MAKING!**

**Hey everyone! The Symmetricalist is BACK with a brand new chappie!**

**You know, once I get this far into a fanfic, I usually step back and start thinking "Okay how am I gonna end this?"**

**That hasn't happened yet.**

**So, Enjoy Chapter 14!**

* * *

***~*Chapter 14*~***

**~*~*She Said*~*~**

On the other side of the party, with two girls named Little Perv and Jaya, stood the very angry best friend of our protagonist's "Little Love". The reason for this somewhat private meeting was puzzling, even to the two girls he had gathered to sit by him and hear what he had to ask them.

"I need you girls to put someone in their place for me."

"What? Who? And why are you asking us?" The pony tail haired girl asked, while the brunette next to her shook her head in disbelief.

"You realize this isn't the first time we've been singled out to beat someone up, right?"

"Hey I ain't asking you to get her all bloody or anything. I need you to put her in her place, show her that nobody talks to my baby girl the way she did."

"It's a girl this time too?!"

"Listen I heard the way she was talking to Xia, and being her friend too, I don't want to just sit back and let Maxine get away with that."

"Oh no, Jaya. Don't say what I think you're gonna say…" Jaya stood up confidently and reached into her pocket, pulling out a small BB gun and putting on a devilish smile.

"Marie! Get me my bamboo sword!"

"But you already have your gun!"

"And?"

"Fine." The pony tail girl started heading towards the door, "But I'm bringing the crossbow too, and I'm gonna use it, got that?"

"That'll be fine." Jaya took one look at Russell and smiled cutely before she put the gun back in her pocket and started searching for the mean girl known as Maxine.

"Wonder if I should call 911 now or wait a while." He said to himself as he sat down and took a sip of his drink rather calmly.

* * *

_Back in the Bathroom_

* * *

"Noods, yew can' go 'ome teh your da'…"

"Toochie, I need to. I feel so guilty leaving, he needs me there."

"Look at wot you're sayin'! This guy beat yew, I saw eht wit' meh own two eyes, slugged yew across your pretteh li'el cheek 'e did. I won' le' yew go 'ome so eht kin 'appen again, for once I wan' teh see those beautiful eyes of yours and not be distracted by a bruise." Noodle reached a hand up to her eye and pulled away from him. She raised herself up from the ground and looked in the mirror by the sink, and then she parted her bangs to inspect all the damage that had been done to her features over the years. She was a mess when she looked at herself, but somehow a kind man still fell for her. Was she really going to let him go so that she could be with her dad again?

"You need to know the truth before you decide on what is right or not." Stu perked up his head and turned towards her, still in his place on the ground but mentally telling himself that he should get up and hold her or something.

"Well tell meh teh truth. An' if eht still looks shady teh meh, I ain' lettin' yew go."

"Fine. One thing you should know is that my dad wasn't always cruel. One time he, my mom and I were a happy family. My mom loved music and she played guitar every single day. When she died it was really, really hard on my father to even look at a guitar without breaking down. He became very strict with me, not because he didn't want me to have fun, but because he didn't want to lose me too. If I don't go back to my dad, he might just give up on life. I can't let him do that."

"Bu' 'e hurt yew! I'm sorry bu' I can' justify a man hitting 'is daughteh across teh face!" He got up from his place on the ground and walked over, placing his hand softly on her shoulder as he fully showed his worried expression.

"You're underestimating me, Stuart. I'm a strong girl, I can handle it."

"I know you're strong, bu' t'is isn' somethink yew shoul' 'ave teh 'andle." Stu wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly, resting his head by her ear.

"Please let me go home, Stu. I need to be with my dad."

"I don' wan' teh le' yew go." He held her even tighter, leaving no space between them as he tried making it clear that his feelings on the subject were solid.

"But it is not your choice to keep me, it is my own."

"Jus' come 'ome wit' me one more nigh', alrigh'?" He released her and turned her towards him gently, "We'll talk more abou' t'is there."

"If we leave alone together everyone is going to get the wrong idea."

"Well le' 'em. They don' know yew an' they don' know me. And mos' importantly, they don' know us."

"If we leave then how will Sparky and Murdoc get home?"

"They'll find a way. Le's jus' go, okay?" Noodle nodded and opened up the door of the bathroom, preparing to leave with Stu right beside her.

They walked out of the rustle and bustle of the party and into the chilly December night, one of them suddenly realizing that he wasn't wearing a jacket.

"Toochie you're going to get sick if you keep forgetting to dress for the cold. You are not even wearing long sleeves!"

"I'll be alrigh', luv. Come on, le's jus' run teh the car!" He enthusiastically grabbed her hand and started jolting forward, performing a mix of giggling and shivering as he led her along the pavement. She couldn't help but smile at his frantic attempt to not freeze to death, and smiled even wider when he stopped at the passenger's side door and opened it up for her so that she, the wiser of the two who actually dressed warm, could get in first.

She sat there alone momentarily before she saw him on the driver's side window, struggling with getting his door open. She laughed a little and leaned over, unlocking it for him and therefore letting the freezing cold, lanky young man in. He sat in the seat and shivered for a moment before popping his keys into the ignition and turning on the radio, only to be greeted with a song he had somewhat started associating with his little love, "Silly Love Songs", one of the songs they sang together that one sweet night.

He looked at her with an adoring smile, and then quickly turned away as he felt a blush come to his cheeks. She placed her hand on his and leaned over, kissing him lovingly on his hot, red cheek, and chuckled like a little girl after she came back to her original position.

After a brief moment taken to recollect his thoughts and come back to planet earth, Stuart started driving the car out of the driveway and onto the road, being careful not to hit any of the parked cars around him.

Meanwhile the beat of the happy, inspiring tune travelled throughout the car, and into our protagonist's heart as he began to sing along, not just for the heck of it, but to try and maybe tell his own "loved one" how he felt about her. Then again, only a fool wouldn't have realized his feelings sooner.

"I love you." He said a little bit out of tune with the music. He repeated it again, losing the song in his voice as his heart raced like wildfire and he realized he really just wanted to tell her "I love you."

"I luv yew, meh li'el luv." He said sort of inaudibly to her as he looked over and saw her staring out the window. He figured that she didn't even notice, which made him sad, but also calmed him down.

"I can't explain the feeling's plain to me, oh can't you see?" Apparently she didn't see, because she was still staring out the window, but soon enough she did speak up and respond.

"You really did give me your all, didn't you?" He heard her say as she finally broke from her trance and looked over at him.

"I di' wot?"

"You've given me so much. And all I have to offer you is a silly necklace."

"Eht's no' silly. I really luv t'is necklace." Stu reached down into his shirt and pulled it out to show that he was still wearing it.

"But, it's just an object. I cannot repay you for the things you have done for me with an object."

"Well if eht bothehs yew, consideh all debts payable with kisses." Stu chuckled at that, and smiled widely before looking over at her and realizing she was no longer smiling.

"Maybe I could repay you when we get home then."

"Luv, I don' wan' yew teh feel like yew owe me sumfink. I 'aven' done anything for yew tha' I woul' normally charge for. You're meh frien', meh li'el luv. I jus' wan' yew teh be 'appy."

"I don't want to go back home and feel like there is a weight on my shoulders, a reason for me to come back to you. I just want to pretend like we never were anything special, and just go on to being little more than friends." The car, much like Stuart's heart, came to a halt the moment the words left her mouth. Thankfully, they weren't on a busy road, in fact, he was on the street he lived on when she said that. His entire body paused, and he slowly turned to her, entirely heartbroken.

"Stu, you shouldn't have-"

"Bu', bu'… I though', I though' tha'-"

"Stuart, this is what I mean. I don't want you to feel like I took anything from you when I leave. That's why I want us to go back to just being nothing."  
"Luv… The only thing yew 'ave taken from me is meh heart…" Stu leaned forward onto the steering wheel and began to slightly sob, totally ignoring the fact that he was in the middle of the street.

"You can keep the necklace, Stu. I just can't be with you though."

"No, no I'm going teh prove teh yew tha' we kin be togetheh, an' yew kin be 'appy wit' me. An', an' if by the en' uv teh nigh' yew still wan' teh go 'ome, then… Then I'll le' yew go. Eht's only fair." He rubbed away the tears from his face and tried putting on a strong demeanor, but he simply wasn't as tough as he wanted to seem at that moment.

"Stu-"

"Yew keep sayin' yew wan' teh repay me, well t'is is your chance teh repay me."

"Alright. One night, and tomorrow I leave if my mind hasn't been miraculously changed." She looked to him and sighed, sealing their deal in a breath.

"Okay. I'm sorry for teh, 'ey wait…" Stuart looked around the car, and noticed that it had begun to snow. The white flakes started out slow and beautiful, like tiny angels floating from the sky, but they very soon began piling up on hood of the car. Stu started driving again, eager to get home so that they could watch the snow fall together while drinking hot coco and watching old movies.

The moment they got home, the weird, tense feeling that they both had gathered up onto their shoulders in the car seemed to fall right off, like a hot heavy blanket sliding down to their feet. Noodle eagerly looked out the window as the snow piled up, allowing the growing white sheet on the ground to clear up her mind and help her to realize that what happens tomorrow and what happens tonight are two totally different things. Tomorrow she had to be an adult and do what she felt was right, but tonight, she could be worry free, at least to the best of her ability.

Stuart started heating up some water in a kettle on the stove, which attracted the attention of his little guest who gave him an awfully disgusted glare.

"Wot?"

"Water? For hot chocolate _milk_? You're not going to heat up some _milk_?"

"I always do eht t'is way. 'Ow woul' yew 'eat up milk any'ow?"

"You put it in a little pan of course." She walked over to him and looked around the stove for a small pan, but all she could find was a medium sized pot. She figured it would do, and then she walked over to the fridge and grabbed the gallon of milk.

"'Ey now who said yew coul' come in 'ere and take oveh meh 'ot chocolate makin' biz, luv?"

"I did. And technically it's hot chocolate _milk_, not hot chocolate. If it were hot chocolate we would literally be melting chocolate down and drinking it. This is hot chocolate milk, which is why I'm disgusted that you'd use water. It takes away the creamy texture." She poured the milk into the pot and settled it onto the stove, taking Stu's kettle and moving it away so her pot could have the already hot burner.

"Drinkin' mel'ed chocolate sounds lioke eht'd git yew sick. Bu' eht also sounds delicious." Stu seemed to be looking off into space at the moment, and Noodle decided on a whim to reach out and wrap her hands around his index finger gently.

"Well a lot of delicious things can hurt you." He looked over and smiled before closing his eyes and leaning down towards her, placing his chin upon her shoulder. The young girl sighed and pushed him away a little before reaching up and tenderly kissing him. He embraced her and suddenly realized that this was the first time they had kissed while standing up, which also explained why his lower back was starting to feel uncomfortable.

Taking note of his struggle to try and adjust himself so they could continue the lip locking, his partner pulled away and hiked herself up onto the kitchen counter before pulling him in again and making the kiss far more comfortable for both of them.

She ran her fingers gently through his hair, and he was suddenly reminded of their first kiss, and how she kissed him with so much passion and fury. He remembered feeling her anger drip out of every noise she made, and how it was all replaced with his own gentle easiness. He felt like, for once in his life, somebody needed him. And now this girl, the one he loves so much, the one who made him feel amazing, the one who he promised to kiss away her tears and make her feel better, wanted to leave him, and leave everything they had become in such a short time.

He held her tighter and groaned with the pain of losing her. He couldn't let it happen, he couldn't let her go back and get mistreated by that horrible man again. He had to protect her and make her feel loved.

He pulled away and lead kisses down to her neck, but she pushed his face forward with her palm and smiled at him.

"Don't get too carried away, we still have hot chocolate to make." He complied with letting her go, and she jumped down from the counter and over to check on the milk, which had developed a thin film on top of it from not being stirred. She turned off the heat and grabbed a soup spoon and began stirring the milk lightly while Stu looked for some cups, but as she looked over at him and noticed a melancholic tint to his face, she started thinking about whether or not the choice she was making was the best choice.

"Yew shoul' meet meh mum one day, Noods." He suddenly spoke, a happy fake grin on his face as he placed down two matching brown mugs in front of her then proceeded to search for the chocolate mix.

"Stu, I-"

"Pretteh much any decoration yew see in t'is 'ouse came from 'er."

"Well... She has good taste in color, as I can see from the patches of paint on the wall."

"Yeah, tha' was meh own fault tha' the walls are still lioke tha'. I jus' didn' feel the need teh paint, yew know?" He opened up a container of chocolate milk mix and started pouring an almost equal amount into each cup.

"Well, you're a bachelor, so nobody is going to judge you on that." She came over with the pot of milk and took a soup spoon full of the hot creamy liquid and poured it into each cup.

"I wouldn' be if yew'd marry me." She slowly put the pot back onto the stove, trying not to let it show that she was actually quite shocked by his remark.

"Stu, you don't even know me."

"Do I 'ave teh know everythink abou' yew before I decide tha' I luv yew?"

"Well you should know at least a little bit more than you do now, or at least have known me longer before… Before deciding…"

"Well I didn'. Because I do luv yew, an' I wan' yew teh be wit' meh." He reached out and held her hands in his, then he soothingly pulled her into a affectionate embrace, resting his neck upon her head.

"The last person who said that they loved me is dead."

"Well I'll be tellin' yew eht every day tha' I'm alive." She smiled in his arms and finally hugged him back.

"Thank you, Toochie."

The clock was ticking away at the last few minutes of the year when our little couple, who our protagonist had come to know mentally as "Stoodle", decided that their last seconds of 2014 should be spent outside, building a snow man together. Noodle was wearing some of Stu's winter clothes, so they were a little long on her, especially the gloves. But she didn't let it stop her from running around in the snow, feeling like a kid with her best friend.

After being satisfied with their work, they took some pictures with Stuart's phone, and officially named their masterpiece after themselves, "Snow Stoodle", and calling it a night, they went back inside, and warmed up together by cuddling in bed, the bed that Stu hoped they would share each night from now on.

And after joining together in a joyful countdown of the New Year, they each got a New Year's Kiss, which admittedly started a second earlier than usual.

And afterwards, with both of them giddy and happy and filled with good feelings, Noodle looked into Stu's eyes, and with the flow of an enchantress, she leaned in and whispered into his ear,

"I love you."

And that was all it took to take our protagonist into a dreamland of wonder and turn his very thoughts to mush. He grabbed onto her tightly and gave her kisses all over, which she happily took with a pleasured grin.

And the rest of the night belonged to them, and to all the things they did to show their love for each other.

And in the morning, Stu didn't even have to open his eyes before he smiled ear to ear with the thoughts of all that they did and how amazing he felt afterwards. He pulled his little love, his girl, his woman, closer to his body so he could smell her sweet hair and wake her up with a steamy kiss. But the grip he had on her felt odd, he swore he fell asleep with her in his arms, but when he opened his eyes, there was only a pillow against his chest.

He looked around the room and saw that she was gone, her clothing too.

Our protagonist came to a sudden reality…

She left him after all.

* * *

**O.O**

**Okay let's just pretend I never wrote that last part. Even though I did. *Cowers and covers head to protect myself from any flying tomatos***

**Murdoc and Sparky kind of disappeared. Then again I've seen them as the sort of characters who float in and out of the story, especially Murdoc. He just pops in when he feels sober enough.**

**Also how come none of my writing programs recognize Murdoc as a word/name? It always tries changing it to "Docking" or "Doctor" or something. Random tidbit.**

**Gotta go now, my lizard is harassing cars on the street.**

**Thanks to anyone who has reviewed so far! I really appreciate it! BTW, if you've been reading this and you haven't reviewed, well, why not? You obviously like it for a reason. Tell me the reason! It will help pass the time until I update again!**

***Suddenly screams into the background* MORDECAI NO! That semi truck did nothing to you!**

**Sincerely,**

**-TheSymmetricalist**


	15. Sherlock Niccals (If I Fell)

**Hola errybuddy!**

**I'm BACK with a new chapter, as usual. I wouldn't be updating if I wasn't about to show you a new chapter :)**

**This chapter is, eh, weird? (Come on name one part of this thing that isn't weird.) I felt like during the middle, I was having a bit of trouble with my flow. Things weren't falling into place the way I originally intended with this chapter.**

**Either way, I got it done and it's as good as it will ever be!**

**If I stop updating for a while, it is not because I have abandoned the story. I either A, died, or B, am working on one of my other two stories, neither of which are fanfics.**

**With that being said, enjoy!**

* * *

**~*~*Chapter 15*~*~**

**~*Sherlock Niccals*~**

**~*~*(If I Fell)*~*~**

In all the ruckus of the party, which had only increased after the new year had arrived, nobody really knew 100% what was happening. Alcohol limits went out the window, and everyone drank to their desire, and with Murdoc keeping Terri busy, no one was there to stop it from happening. And once the socially awkward, attemptingly proper woman had realized that everything was a total mess, her self-made Bass instructor convinced her into getting a little wild and crazy too in order to help her not be so "Out Casted" all the time. And the entire night was just one big blur after that.

Morning light rose into the torn apart house, revealing the aftermath of an entire night's worth of irresponsible drinking. There were people bundled up in random items asleep on the snow in the front yard, people asleep in the house, there was a ceiling fan on the roof, and a man in a pair of Elmo shorts and a bikini top hanging upside down from a tree in the front yard. Closer inspection of this man would reveal that it was Sparky, but no one was awake or willing enough to find out who he was.

In fact, the first person to awaken, feeling sick as a dog and distressed as a mother duck missing her ducklings, was Terri, who opened her eyes to find herself on her own bed, wedged in between the wall and her bass guitar, and on the other side, a steaming hot body. Thankfully whoever it was seemed to be breathing, so she/he/it wasn't dead. But they _were _totally wrapped up in her blankets, and it was freezing in her house for some reason.

She looked down and realized that, thankfully, she was wearing clothes, but not her own clothes. More specifically, she was in a black turtleneck sweater that was simply too big for her, and pants that most certainly were not fitting her where they should be. She was also pretty sure that these clothes belonged to a man.

She jumped when the body next to her suddenly began to move, and a hand suddenly came up to grab her and pull her in close.

"'Ello love." A deep, groggy voice whispered into her ear. She tried not to shiver under his grip, but she totally did.

"Oh no… We didn't do anything did we?"

"To be 'onest with yew love, I do no' recall if we di' or no'. Bu', for the sake of imagination, le's preten' we didn', bu' promised tha' we woul' in the morning." He suddenly shifted himself and laid her down underneath him, so that he was looking right down at her, his tired, hungry half moon eyes staring into her soul.

She tried to scream, but couldn't quite do anything before he came down and kissed her forcefully upon the lips. She had no clue what to do, he was a nice guy though, from what she could remember, he wouldn't actually do anything to her if she wasn't okay with it, would he?

Not knowing whether or not he would, she decided that saving herself came first, so she reached out and grabbed her bass by the neck, and used all the strength in her body to smack him in the side with it as hard as she could, toppling him to the floor as she did so.

"Agh, wha' the bloo'y 'ell was that for?!"

"Well, um, I was trying to protect myself."

"Yew dumb bird! I woul' 'ave stopped if yew tol' me to!" He was obviously in a lot of pain and was holding onto his lower back, apparently the place where she had hit him.

"Well it was hard to say anything with you kissing me the way you did." He breathed deeply and ran his fingers through his hair, changing his attitude from agony and anger to agony and, what appeared to be, a sudden melancholic mood.

"I'm sorry, alrigh'? I shouldn' 'ave grabbed yew lioke tha' or kissed yew without your consent. It's jus' been a while since I've, yew know, woken up with a young broad lioke yew in bed with me. They usually take off ou' the door the moment they see me in the morning an' realize it was the alcohol tha' made me desirable." He almost attempted to move, but the pain held him down and he remained in his uncomfortable position on the floor. He really felt like he was getting old, if he were in his twenties he'd already be up and recovered by now.

"Well hey, you know, girls like that aren't worth keeping anyway. And also this is my house, and my bed, so I don't see where I would take off to." She flung her legs off of the bed and gave out a stretch and a yawn, and he tried hard to not let his eyes wander, at least to the point where it was obvious what he was looking at.

"Well uh, be 'onest with me. If yew saw me at a bar nex' to, say, a really 'ot actor, an' yew 'ad the choice of either of us for the night, who woul' yew pick?" She didn't seem to be thinking too hard about it, as she was mostly just inspecting her bass for damage at this point.

"Well I don't go to bars. I admit I'm not perfect, I've had boyfriends before, but I've never had a one night stand before. I see no point in it."

"Alrigh' well if yew 'ad the chance of being with your favorite actor as 'is _girlfriend_, or bein' with me, who woul' yew pick?"

"I don't usually date people I've only known a day."

"Oh for the love of, do yew fin' me attractive or no?!"

"Um, well I guess you look okay." She touched her chin then leaned down towards him, slightly raising herself from the bed and then sitting on the floor across from him afterwards. "You could do a few things to make yourself look better though."

"Like wha'?" She pinched his cheeks and dragged them up and down exaggeratedly, which was obviously to his displeasure, then she started touching his hair and poking and patting his chest and stomach. He had absolutely no clue what she was doing, but he was too tired to make her stop it.

"Well, exercise maybe. That will get you looking younger. And I _know _you smoke, I smell it in your hair. Stop doing that. And eat healthier. Stop drinking so much, and get more sleep."

"Woman yew basically just told me to stop living."

"Well dead people don't age, so maybe it will be a good thing!" She smiled cutely, but it hardly phased him since this entire conversation had simply reminded him of how he really hadn't done anything good in all his years of life, and it had begun depressing him.

"I've spent one 'alf of my life doing whatever I felt like doing, wha' makes yew think I'm going teh spend the last 'alf doing any differen'?"

"Because if you do things a little differently, maybe it won't simply be your last half, but a continuation of your first half." She smiled with so much happiness, it was almost overwhelming for the somewhat confused older man. For the time being, he just looked at her with disbelief. Of course she would see things as being that simple, that eating right and getting exercise would make him look and feel younger, because she was still just a baby compared to him. She had her whole life ahead of her, the depression of getting older still had years before it hit her. Heck, he'd probably be long gone before she even started understanding what he felt like.

"Wha' do yew know abou' 'ow I feel?"

"I don't, but I can try to."

"Yes yes, very touching. Now-" He was suddenly cut off by a long, girlish shriek coming from somewhere in the house.

"Someone help! Somebody has been murdered!" Needless to say, it didn't take the duo long to get themselves up and out the door to investigate what exactly was going on out there.

Of the people who did end up staying over last night, all of them were gathered around in a circle, whispering and mumbling things to one another.

Terri ran out, still wearing Murdoc's clothes and therefore giving him no choice but to run out wearing only a bed sheet. The nervous girl was visibly shaking, hoping that somebody in this place had the brains to call the police or an ambulance or something.

She pushed through the crowd, the bassist by her side as she revealed to the two of them the sight of Danny, dead on the ground, blood pouring out from underneath him as he lay upon his chest.

Terri went pale as a ghost at the sight and immediately punched Murdoc in the arm as hard as she could.

"If you wouldn't have convinced me to drink last night this wouldn't have happened!"

"Oh wha' so you're blaming a bloo'y _murder _on me trying to le' yew loosen up a bi'?"

"Yes I am!"

"Huh, tough broad yew are." He rubbed his arm and gave out a yawn, showing a complete contrast to little Terri's panicking attitude.

"Has anyone called the police?" The crowd looked at her and nodded their heads no all while whispering to each other "I didn't, did you?"

"_Nobody_ called the police to report a _murder_? Are you people completely brain dead?!"

"I called," Jaya answered finally, stepping forward from the crowd, "but the snow on the roads is so heavy, we need to wait until most of it has been shoveled and melted."

"Great! Well that means whoever murdered this guy is right here in this room!" The lights suddenly flickered on and off for a moment until they went completely out. The girls in the room screamed and the men in the room gasped, and then you could faintly hear the sound of doors being locked rapidly. Suddenly, at the front of the living room, the flicker of a light appeared, illuminating the face of none other than Murdoc as he lit a pipe he got from who knows where. Next to him was Sparky, who you could only see the bare stomach of before the lights came on and it was revealed that the two were fully decked out in costumes, Murdoc in an improvised Sherlock Holmes type outfit, and Sparky in a very small Nancy Drew type outfit.

"Wha' the 'ell are yew wearing? I said yew woul' be _Watson! _The _male _Watson!"

"I don't wanna be Watson, I wanna be Drew!"

"Oh, whatever yew filly boy." The men were suddenly interrupted when Jaya walked up to them, hands on her hips as she nodded her head in disappointment.

"Guys, where did you get those outfits from?"

"Well, me and Mudz decided the other night that if we should ever happen upon a murder scene, we should totally dress up as Holmes and Drew!"

"Eht was _suppose _teh be Holmes an' _Watson._"

"I told you I would be Drew, so let me be Drew!"

"But where did you guys even find the outfits?" Jaya chimed into the conversation again.

"Goodwill. We kept them in the back of Stu's car so that we'd be ready whenever the time came."

"Alrigh'y then, now, le's git teh work, Watson."

"Drew!"

"I ain' callin' yew Drew! Sherlock's partner was Watson so you're gonna be Watson whether yew like eht or not!"

"Well I'm not playing then!"

"Playing?! This is a murder yew dumb bloke!"

"Wait you guys, this isn't right. We should be more serious about this." Jaya spoke up as she put out her hands and added a bit of sensibleness to the conversation. Terri relaxed a little, believing that she was going to put them under control even if she had to kill them both. But suddenly, the young sensible human action figure took off and came back wearing a Kitana outfit.

"Jaya! Don't join their ridiculous inappropriately timed cosplay!" Terri shouted at her, admittedly a bit jealous that she could pull off such an outfit with little effort.

"Hey everyone! Listen up!" A loud voice that belonged to who else but Russell suddenly boomed throughout the roundup of people. He walked over to the body of Danny, not very close but close enough to try and inspect exactly what happened before speaking again.

"I think these two walnut brains have a good idea, trying to narrow down suspects and help out the police, but I think the best course of action would be to sit still and wait. Danny here was a good friend of mine, and if I find out who did this before the police get here, one of ya'll is gonna pay for this in blood."

"Well le's star' the questioning then!" Murdoc spoke up, totally ignoring the man.

"Everyone! Go into a random room in the house and think up a dramatic back story that makes you all look equally tied to the murder!" Sparky shouted out with no response from his former party mates.

"Or, 'ow abou' we do this. 'Ow many of yew all remember 'aving any interaction with Danny las' night?" Murdoc raised up his own hand to give an example that he didn't want answers right at that moment, he just wanted a show of hands. Terri raised her hand, remembering bits and pieces from after she had begun drinking, although most of them were heavily faded. Jaya shot her hand straight up, and so did Russell and a few other girls. But for the most part, a majority of them didn't raise their hands at all.

"Alrigh', those of yew who raised your hands, come forward." They did as he asked, hoping that maybe he'd actually prove to be some sort of help. But Russell knew better than to simply put his faith in him, so he just stood back and waited for him to slip up, especially since he was already suspicious of the man who seemed to have almost planned for this to happen.

Murdoc and Sparky looked at each other, and then down at Jaya who was crossing her arms and looking at the people in front of her, striking fear into them with her eyes.

"'Ey yew, git in line for questioning wit' the rest of 'em." Murdoc tapped her on the head, and she whipped around angrily at him.

"I'm not a suspect, I was the only one totally sober the entire party. Therefore I want in on the investigation."

"Excuse me li'el girl, bu' I'm the one wearin' the hat, so _I'm _the one who git's teh say who git's questioned and who doesn't, alrigh'?" Jaya grabbed him by the collar, pulled him down, grabbed his hat, and put it on her own head all in one fluid movement.

"What was that, Sherlock?"

"Alrigh' fine, yew can be in on the investigation, but yew 'ave teh be questioned first!"

"Fine, but you need to be questioned too. It's only fair." Sparky suddenly raised his arms into the air with glee.

"This means I don't have to talk about any of the embarrassing stuff I did last night! Yay!" Jaya turned to him and poked his bare stomach.

"Not so fast, I think all of us need to be questioned." Jaya walked forward and pointed to Terri, who immediately flinched at the action.

"Terri, can you tell me in full detail what you did last night in relation to Danny?"

"Well, after he got situated behind the bar, I told him that everyone had a drink limit of one hard liquor, and two of anything else they choose…"

"YOU'RE the one who tol' 'im we coul' only 'ave one 'ard liquor?! Yew savage!" Sparky quickly reached out to hold Murdoc back, and Terri rolled her eyes before continuing.

"After that, I left to go socialize. I came back to see him every now and then and made sure he wasn't giving anyone more than the limit, but after I came out and realized he had left the bar unattended, I didn't see him again. I had figured he just left." Jaya stood back, thinking up more questions to ask. But just as she was about to, Murdoc came waltzing over, twirling his pipe in his hands as he laid a big hand on Terri's shoulder.

"A very likely story… For a _murderer_!"

"What makes you think I would have done it?!"

"Where were yew after Danny 'ad gone missing, eh?"

"I was with _you, _you big twit." Terri moved away and Murdoc straightened up.

"See if we were together, then I 'ave an alibi. Tha' means I couldn' 'ave done eht."

"But where were _you _after she went to the bathroom, huh?! She must have gone at least once!" Sparky questioned, pointing a finger at the man.

"Yew 'eard the lady, we were together the entire night. Both of us are _innocent."_

"But what if you killed Danny together!" Sparky shouted, and he was quickly shushed by everyone who wasn't him. Russell stepped forward and decided he'd try getting this thing to actually turn in a positive direction, considering the fact that nobody here had any idea what they were doing. Except maybe Jaya.

"Guys, you do realize that the murder couldn't have happened during the party. It happened after everyone had already passed out, which means chances are, the murderer fled the scene. Has anyone checked outside for footprints? Or, more over less, is anyone from last night missing from today?"

"A lot of people left early, probably half of who are still here." A man spoke up from the crowd.

"Alrigh'y, now I 'ave a question for _all of us. _'As anyone checked the body yet, and if no, then why not?"

"Because, man. That's a job for the police, we gotta leave everything as untouched as possible so we don't mess with any evidence. That _includes _Danny's body."

"I say we flip 'im!" Murdoc shouted, but he was quickly quieted by Russell grabbing him forcefully by the neck.

"Did you not just hear a word I said?"

"Guys! There's police cars outside!" Sparky shouted as he pointed to the window. Terri ran to open up the door, and in walked a pudgy middle aged cop eating a pink donut.

"'Ey, yew look familiar."

"Somebody got murdered here, huh?" The cop asked as he walked in, a taller man behind him as the crowd cleared away from the body.

Everyone went silent as the cops flipped the body of Danny over, and revealed a splattered strawberry pastry on his chest. The pudgy cop licked his own fingers of the remnants of his donut, and then proceed to touch under Danny's jaw to check for a pulse.

"This guy is alive. He's just passed out." Danny began to stir and opened up his eyes, looking around for a bit and smiling at Terri before closing them and falling back into his death-like state.

"Well, that was the second easiest murder I've ever solved. Wanna go to Denny's?"

"Sure." With that the cops left, and everybody else started leaving the house so they could finally go home.

However, Sparky and Murdoc soon realized that, since Stu took off with Noodle, they really had no way of getting home.

So instead they sat around watching SNL reruns with Terri, Jaya, Russell, and the semi-passed out Danny.

* * *

**When I was a young tot, I loooovvved writing murder mysteries. I thought I was so good at them too, I could type up an entire story in just under a night.**

**So, when I was given the idea by my BFF that I should come up with someone having gotten murdered after the party, and Murdoc and Sparky should act as Sherlock Holmes and Wats-er- Nancy Drew to solve it, I immediately started thinking back to those days when I wrote those "Awesome" murder mysteries and I thought, "Oh man I should have this thing in the BAG!"**

**Then I started writing and remembered how in actuality I absolutely sucked at writing Murder Mysteries. I felt like I was going all over the place, no one was showing enough concern over the fact that there is a dead man in the middle of the living room, and it was honestly really hard trying to find the perfect place between serious and comical, so I attempted to just go full comical (How the heck do you expect me to make things serious when there is a six foot tall lad dressed as a young girl trying to solve a murder?)**

**Honestly, if there was a way that I could have had _Stu_ be Watson and Murdoc actually be Sherlock, I would have been way more into it and probably would have actually come up with a nice plot and a literal murder. However, I felt like in order for me to put that much effort into one chapter, I'd be straying too far from the original plot in a scene that is really just suppose to be a fun little space taker, a break from the more serious outline I've developed, and going into something like that would, in my opinion, require either a new story altogether, or it's own spot in a "Mind Dump" fanfic, which is not something I've created for myself yet.**

**That being said, I apologize for this seeming rushed, weird, or maybe even entirely dumb. Then again, you've read this far, why quit because of a failed attempt at a "Murdoc Mystery?" *Giggles like a nut***

**I think this author note is too long. Well sorry about that too.**

**One more thing I need to say, I'm sorry if it seems like I'm allowing my Oc's to take over the story. I swear they aren't, even if it seems that way, I'll fix it if it gets unbearable. It usually irritates the heck out of me when I see a story be 90% OC's and have just a little bit of the original characters in it. My only excuse is that since this is AU, and the Gorillaz are only four people to begin with, I had no choice but to add OC's to keep the story going in a direction that isn't entirely obsessive and makes the world I'm writing for seem real. I get that. What I'm not approving of in myself is relationships. I don't want Terri to seem like she's "The perfect girl who is going to tame the bad boy," And I don't want her to ever seem that way. Unfortunately, I think I may have already put that kind of tag on her, and I desperately want to rip it off. Don't know how I'll do that yet, but hopefully it will be easier than I'm making it seem.**

**That's my own opinion on my OC's. If they aren't that bothersome to my readers, I'll be less anxious about them. One thing I want to try harder to do is get Russell in on the fun more. He's one of my favorite characters and yet I feel like I'm not showing him much love at all. That shall be fixed.**

**Next chapter will be getting back to the original story, promise!**


	16. Ai Wo

**Before I let you read this, I'm going to warn you of something.**

**I was somewhat totally out of it while writing this chapter. I'm on a new medication, and it just so happens to make me, well, loopy? **

**However, I'm going to be on this stuff for ten more days, and I really wanted to keep on writing while I was on it. I only had a few moments in which I could write before getting way too out of it to even know which way is up anymore. And yet, I think that for being high as a kite during 75% of this chapter, I did a pretty good job on it.**

**So, enjoy chapter 16!**

* * *

***~*Chapter 16*~***

***~*~*Ai Wo*~*~***

**(Love me)**

"She left me…" Stu didn't waste any time thinking that maybe she stuck around and had just gone to the bathroom or something. His mind was immediately focused on the worst of things, preparing himself for the ultimate in heart breaking situations, and he didn't trick himself with hopeful thoughts that would only break him up more when they proved untrue.

He knew what had happened, she said it herself last night that she would leave. He had failed to convince her otherwise.

He got up out of bed, slipped on a pair of pants he had found, and he walked over to the window, looking on sorrowfully as the harsh winds blew about the snow that had already fallen upon the trees. He scanned the area and saw, within the snow, tiny, almost microscopic footprints, leading out, past the snowman they had made together, into the road.

Stuart thought for a second that maybe she was still out there, so he put on a shirt, found a jacket and some shoes, and ran downstairs and out the door as quickly as he could without injuring himself. He flinched the moment that the cold winter air hit him, but he ran on through it anyways, following her steps and wondering why she didn't at least wait until the snow had melted before she went home. He ran on for what seemed like an eternity, his near meatless body shivering like mad underneath his coat, and his legs and feet going numb from the melting snow leaking into his shoes and sweatpants. Yet he somehow found the strength to keep going, he had to find her and convince her that she was making a mistake by going home.

The endless hallway of sleeping, lifeless trees dropping bitter cold snow onto his freezing red cheeks seemed to immediately stop as a small figure slowly came into view. He ran towards her even faster, ignoring the fact that it was now raining down droplets of frozen water onto them both. The figure was just about limping, not moving even a fraction of the speed her pursuer had been going up until he reached her.

"Noodal!" He called out, reaching a freezing hand into the air as he came closer and stopped before she turned around rather quickly.

"Go home! I need to do this!"

"No yew don'!" She suddenly shook in place and fell, but he reached out and caught her before she could hit the ground.

"Stuart, please, I must go back to my father."

"No! I won' le' yew git 'urt anymore! I'm going teh protect yew from 'im!"

"I have to go! My father, he may hurt himself if he loses me!" She tried yanking herself from his arms, but he held her closer, putting his large hand on the back of her head and pulling her into an embrace.

"Every parent loses their kid someday. You're a big girl, and yew don' 'ave teh live with tha' kind of torture anymore."

"I couldn't live with myself if I allowed my father to die, Stuart. I cannot choose a man I barely know over the man who created me!" The words echoed into his ears, erasing all other sounds as the freezing wind halted itself and the world came to a pause. His eyes went wide as his little love removed herself from his warm arms, and standing firmly in front of him, she spoke words made of blades into his heart.

"I do not love you. You are a strange, deranged man who tricked yourself into believing I could love you, that anyone could love you." Tears began to well up in her eyes, she was trying to break his bond to her, make him hate her so he would let her leave. But all she really did was hurt him.

"Noodal, 'ow coul' yew say tha'…"

"You know you don't deserve me. So go home. Leave me be." She turned around and began walking again, leaving Stuart so distraught that he couldn't even raise himself up from the ground and go after her. He let out a tear, and then a sob, and then he full on cried and wailed, allowing his heartbroken voice to fill the cold winter air.

The love of his life, walking away from him, and he could do nothing about it.

But cry, and cry and scream and yell and cry…

Until finally he felt the world around him begin to fade out to black, and the cold winter air above his leather jacket felt more and more like a nice warm blanket.

His own distraught moan suddenly brought him back into consciousness, and he found himself on the bed, alone still, but thankful that it was all a dream.

He still failed to find any trace of Noodle in his bedroom, but the scent of pancakes and bacon coming from downstairs suddenly gave him hope that she was indeed the cause for the delightful smell.

He put on a pair of sweatpants, reenacting the first few minutes of his dream, and he hurried downstairs, feeling incredibly tired and sluggish, yet also nervous for some reason.

Stuart arrived at the bottom of the stairs, and laid his eyes on what had to be the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his life. His little love, in her tiny spaghetti strap tank top and black short shorts, frying up bacon and expertly flipping a flat, tan circle made of deliciousness and love. There was no way he wasn't still dreaming.

She hadn't seen him by the stairs yet, so he decided to quietly sneak up behind her, planning to attack her with a hug from behind and plenty of neck kisses the moment it seemed okay to do so. Plot twist was, however, that she totally knew he was crouching up behind her, but playing along with his game and making him feel victorious in being spontaneous seemed like the nice thing to do.

He soon reached her, but instead of just jumping on her like he had originally intended, he slowly placed his hands upon her hips and came closer until his chest was on her back and his arms were locked around her waist. His chin came down gently until his lips were right upon her ear, and he gently nuzzled her, feeling her body relax under his loving touch and a giggle escape her lips.

"Good morning, Toochie." She said happily, a smile upon her face as she turned her head sideways and ran her hair behind her ear with her fingertips, giving her partner an invitation to the skin beneath. He took it gently, placing his lips to her neck a few times before finally remembering to whisper a "Goodmorning to you too" into her ear.

He reluctantly pulled away and allowed her to continue putting the final touches, namely butter and syrup, on two dishes that were both stacked with pancakes and bacon. She turned around and handed him a plate, and then lead the way into the living room where they could eat.

"Toochie, I thought about something today." She said lightly, not even touching her food before speaking. Her partner, however, had already stuck a piece of bacon in his mouth, and she therefore decided to wait until he had swallowed in order to get a simple response.

"Wot abou', luv?"

"Russell doesn't know about us yet. I know he has an idea of what's happening between us, but, he doesn't know that I'm living with you now."

"Yew didn' tell 'im las' nigh' at teh party?"

"No, but he really should know. He is like my big brother, he knew about pretty much everything besides my father's abuse to me."

"'Ow coul' 'e no' 'ave known though?"

"I had ways of hiding it from him. My bruises, my cuts, he knew I was adventurous and tried not to question it. I know he had a feeling something was up though. Still, I refused to let him know too much." She finally cut into a pancake and stabbed her fork into it, internally smiling as a mess of syrup leaked off of the pancake and back onto her plate. As the fork entered her lips, a spare drip of the sticky liquid leaked out of her mouth and down to her chin, and Stuart eyed it with the same look that a child would give to a candy bar.

"Yew, uh, yew 'ave somefink righ'…" She looked at him confusingly, but before she could reach her hand up to wipe it away, he stopped her with his own, and then slowly leaned in, his dark orbs traveling closer to the desirable mess she had made upon herself, and he softly licked it off, trying to be as sensual as possible.

Unfortunately, our protagonist's lame attempt at being sexy with syrup failed when his little love burst out laughing at the action, which at first made him feel a little hurt, but then he realized that it was a pretty silly thing to have done.

"What was _that _about?" She said in between giggles.

"_Tha' _was me own move, I call eht teh _Slickeh."_

"Do you do that with every girl you eat pancakes with?"

"Yes, considering teh fact tha' you're the only girl I've ever eaten pancakes with."

"Alright, well here, put some bacon grease on your chin and I'll do the same to you." She leaned in, holding out a piece of bacon teasingly as a wide grin came over her lips. It made her happy to know that she found someone who could make her smile so easily.

The older man flashed his classic toothless grin at her and added to it a devious look in his eyes as he bit the bacon right out of her hands and then used extra effort to make sure he got some remnant of it onto the skin between his lip and his chin. He looked her straight in the eyes after he was done, and he swiftly moved his plate from his lap onto the coffee table in front of him. He then scooted closer to her, and put her plate down next to his, and then he reached out for her arms and brought his face closer to hers, welcoming her to place her mouth down below his and softly run her tongue along the area, giving him a big wave of butterflies and causing him to hold her closer. He snaked his arms around her back and pulled her into his lap, and after a quick moment of looking into her eyes, he leaned down to the side of her neck and began to tenderly kiss and nuzzle it. She pulled gently on the back of his head, silently telling him that she wanted more, she wanted him to mark her.

He agreed to do so by opening his lips and placing his hand on the other side of her neck, pulling her in closer as his teeth secured a spot upon her delicate skin and his tongue grazed along the area he had decided upon. He started to suckle, and she gasped heavily, leaning into him as her limbs went numb and she submitted to the feeling he was evoking within her.

He switched from his nibble and suck routine to something else, simply to see what her reaction would be. He bit down, not too hard but hard enough for her to feel the difference, and she gave out a long, breathy moan right into his ear before murmuring out "hai" in the most seductive way possible.

"Motto tsuyoku." She sighed out, and he removed himself from her neck to look at her, flushed cheeks surrounding the panting mouth of a very, very happy girl. She leaned up and kissed him, running her tongue along his lips as she moved down into more of a laying position on the couch, allowing him to tower over her and devour her with his incessant lip locking.

"Well, wha' do we 'ave 'ere, Stuart?" A voice was suddenly heard from behind them, and the two lovers popped up immediately to see none other than Murdoc leaning on the head of the couch.

"Wha', 'ow di' yew git in?!" Stuart moved himself as far away from his little love as possible, intending to avoid the awkward situation that he had undoubtedly found himself in anyhow.

"Sparky 'ad a key, dullar'." He chuckled and then gave a menacing glance and a teasing stare to the two, "I see we stopped in at a bit uf a bad time, didn' we?"

"A li'el."

"'Ey I'm assured yew both 'ad a good ol' time after yew _abandoned_ us at the party las' nigh'. We 'ad to walk 'ohme!" The older man's attention soon drifted off to a rather large bruise on the side of Noodle's neck.

"Wha' do we 'ave 'ere?" He pointed to it teasingly.

"It is none of your business. Go suck on a bottle." She replied as she tried moving some of her hair in front of it to make it slightly less noticeable to the man.

"I see someone 'as been suckin' somethink. Tell me love, this your first hickey?" The young girl fumed with anger at his remark and she quickly turned around and slapped him across the face, earning a giggle from the man responsible for her new marking. She turned forward again, looking at her food that was left on the coffee table and suddenly realizing that she wasn't all that hungry anymore. However, her new position gave Stu a good look at the mark he had given her, and a certain sort of pride flew through him.

Up until now, all her bruises, the ones on her arms and on her face, had all been caused by a painful source. She didn't enjoy getting those marks, she hated them. This one, however, was totally different. This one caused her pleasure when she got it, pleasure that _he_ had caused.

It truly was something to be proud about.

* * *

**My word.**

**Okay, the syrup part...**

**I honestly barely knew I wrote that part until I looked back at my computer and started laughing because I didn't know if I was trying to be sensual or weird or what. My friends all liked it though so I kept it.**

**This chapter is a little short I suppose, I'm mostly trying to throw ideas together so I can find a new direction to take this thing into and run with it. I wouldn't say I'm running out of ideas, but I am confused as to where I'm going to land this thing. Does everyone get a happy ending? Do a few people end up unhappy? I don't know.**

**Hope you enjoyed it, and don't forget to R&amp;R!**

**-TheSymmetricalist**


	17. Mother Pot and His Own Worst Enemy

**Good grief...**

**This is the longest chapter in this series that I've written so far.**

**7,176 words!**

**Honestly it's only this long because I sort of took two chapters and combined them. But they seemed to go together well. I wrote the entire thing over a course of two days, I've been in a very inspirational mood lately. Maybe it's because we just moved. Maybe it's because I've been flirting with a bassist lately ;) Maybe it's because I finally know where this is going.**

**Enjoy, and probably grab a little snack too!**

* * *

**~*~*Chapter 17*~*~**

***~*Mother Pot*~***

**~*and*~**

***~*~*His Own Worst Enemy*~*~***

Friday.

What most people would describe as the beginning of the best days of the week.

Friday was truly a day to behold. Survive Friday, and you're rewarded with Saturday and Sunday, the weekend, the break days, party times!

But today, Friday was nothing but a blurry, foggy, rainy mess. Cuddle-weather day, wrap yourself up in blankets and drink hot cocoa while watching your favorite show kind of day. Stare out the window and have waterdrop races on the glass, catch up on a book you've been meaning to read, play video games, watch movies, and in general just be absolutely lazy.

And that was what the group did today. They took this lovely Friday, this lazy day, off, and did things that they enjoyed doing. That is, until Sparky disappeared for no apparent reason, and Murdoc remembered that he had a job.

So that left Stuart and Noodle alone together, again, to repeat yesterday, and make it count, since all distractions were gone for the day.

They found themselves cuddled up in his bedroom before long, whispering kind things to each other and sharing thoughtful kisses and tender touches, filling each other up with waves of romantic pleasure.

That was, until a doorbell could be heard sounding throughout the house.

"Who could that be?" Noodle questioned the man who didn't seem to be expecting company today, and knowing that if it were one of the two men who had left, they would have just figured out a way inside on their own without knocking or ringing or giving any consideration whatsoever to the privacy of others...

"I fink eht may be me mum." Stu rolled over and out of the bed and then made his way over to the window before looking down and seeing a yellow hooded figure holding two bags full of stuff. He smiled and knocked on the window to try getting her attention, but when the figure looked up at him and revealed to the young man that this was, indeed, his mother, she didn't quite smile back.

"Open the blooming door, Stuart! Eht's pouring out 'ere!" She responded with an accent quite similar to his own, but a bit more defined in a different way.

"Eht's me mum alrigh'." Stu came back over to the bed, grabbed a shirt that had mysteriously fallen off his body once he had entered the room today, and then slid it on as he rushed on out of the room.

He ran quickly down to the front door and opened it up wide, shooting a happy, yet obviously nervous, smile as his mother hunched over and walked in, soaking wet from the storm outside.

"Eht's a blooming nightmare out there eht is, Stu! Wind an' rain jus' pouring out of the sky!" Rachel wobbled over to the kitchen as she mumbled on about the weather, and Stuart struggled with the door as the strong winds insisted on keeping it open.

"Stuart, come an' 'elp your ol' Mum with the groceries, dear." Stuart finally got the door closed with a rather loud slamming sound echoing throughout the house shortly after, and he walked over to his mom, slightly out of breath.

"Hi, Mum."

"Stuart, why di' yeh slam the door? I 'ave more in the car!"

"Oh." Rachel turned and looked her son right in the face before reaching up and touching his forehead.

"Yeh red as a lobster, Stu! Why are yeh so hot? Are yeh sick?"

"No, mum, I-"

"Hush Stu, go sit on the couch I don' want yeh gettin' any worse. I'll bring in the groceries."

"No Mum, I ain't sick I was just, exercising."

"Exercising? 'Ow long 'ave yeh been exercising?"

"Jus' started actually."

"Either way, yeh jus' put away the groceries for me, okay? I'll go git the ones in the car." She started on her way towards the door, but Stu quickly stopped her, not wanting his Mom to be in that mess again. He was a man, right? He should do it.

"I'll go, Mum, I'll be fine."

"Oh alright, but git yehself a jacket on, dearie. An' not a flimsy fabric one you'll catch yehself a blooming cold, put on a nice heavy raincoat an' keep yeh 'ead dry." The woman began sorting through the two bags she had dragged in, pulling out salad mixes and carrots and lunch meats, anything to make sure her son didn't go hungry.

"Yes Mum." Stuart, meanwhile, was sorting through the stack of jackets he had piled by the door. Many of these were most certainly not his, in fact, he couldn't actually recall even having a pile of jackets stacked by the door up until this very moment. He reasoned that they probably belonged to one of his other two housemates, as Noodle only had what she wore when she came here and the few things that Stuart went and bought for her.

Our protagonist opened the door and journeyed outside into the pouring rain, suddenly realizing how much he took for granted the warmth of his bed sheets. He looked up at the window to his room, wondering if Noodle was still in bed or if she had gone downstairs to meet with Rachel. If so, he hoped that his mom wasn't in a freak out mood today and wouldn't immediately assume the worst of her, like she did with his last oh, twenty something girlfriends.

Stuart looked into the car and realized that the entire back seat was filled to the brim with bags, and he quietly groaned to himself before realizing he really did need a lot of groceries. But this was still completely overboard.

As he opened the door and grabbed as many bags as his lanky body could handle, namely, only four, he contemplated asking his mom to, instead of buying all his groceries for him, just give him some money each month to buy his own. But then he remembered that he had already tried having that conversation with her, and she reasoned that he'd spend the money on "Those bloody awful cigarettes of his" and he'd never actually buy food. Which would probably end up true to a point.

As he walked back in and placed the bags on the floor, he saw Noodle coming down from the staircase, waving a friendly "Hello" to his mother and then bowing to her once she got her attention.

"Stuart? Who is this young girl?" He immediately turned red, realizing that he never told his mom a single thing about his little love.

"Oh... Um, Mum-"

"I'm Xia, Stuart's girlfriend." She said confidently. Stu kind of smiled at that, it was the first time she had referred to herself as something more than his friend. But then he looked at his mom and saw the daggers she was shooting at him with her eyes.

"Stuart Pot! Why didn' yeh mention anything about a girlfriend teh me?!"

"I-I-I-"

"He was a little nervous and thought that perhaps meeting me in person would lighten the news."

"That makes no sense. Stu, yeh tell yeh Mummy everything! Every girl yeh ever been with never went on one date with yeh until I approved uf 'eh."

"Yeah but mum I-"

"No "buts" Stuart. She needs teh go through the Mummy Test before I can give yeh me blessing!"

"But Mum-"

"Wait, perhaps this will be fun, Toochie. It will be a good way for me and your mother to bond."

"But Noods she's me Mum! Yew don' 'ave to bond wit' me Mum!"

"Stuart, quit yeh yappin' an' go finish unloading the car." Rachel said as she pointed a demanding finger towards the door, causing the man to pout before begrudgingly doing what his mother had asked.

Around fifteen minutes later, Stuart had finally finished unloading the car. He dumped his raincoat to the ground next to the pile of unknown jackets, and began walking around the new pile of bags that had formed in the hallway from his unloading duty.

He had expected that his mother would be taking the bags into the kitchen to organize the contents into each cabinet and crevice, but instead, he found her on the couch with Noodle, showing off his naked baby pictures from a photo album she had conjured up out of nowhere.

"Mum wot are yeh doin!?"

"Oh Stuart yeh 'ad the cutest bottom of any baby I ever knew, yeh di'."

"Muuum!" Noodle looked at him teasingly, a wide grin on her face as she sat to the right of Rachel. Stuart took a deep breath and walked over to the other side of the couch before sitting down next to Noodle and whispering something in her ear, only doing so because Rachel was distracted by her own rambling on and on about a specific picture and wouldn't hear him.

"She 'asn't seen this ye', 'as she?" He tapped her neck twice and then rested his hand down onto her shoulder.

"Has not seen what?"

"Teh 'ickey."

"Oh, not that I know of. I'm sure it is not a big deal, Stu-"

"Wot is no' a big deal?" The third voice in the room asked. The couple turned to her quickly and equally stuttered out

"Nothing!"

"Don' sit so close tegether, dearies, you'll end up makin' promises yeh can't keep." The woman turned back to the book and pointed to a new photo, and Noodle suddenly realized that yes, this woman probably would have a fit about there being a hickey on her neck.

The day dragged on into a mixture of happiness, because Noodle and Rachel were getting along, and dreariness, because Rachel wouldn't leave Noodle alone for a second and she insistently wanted to know what she and Stuart were planning on for the future. On the bright side, Stu was sure that his little love had passed the Mommy test. On the downside, he felt really left out of their "Girl Time" for the moment, and any time he had a sudden thought of doing something cute and romantic towards his love, he had to keep it to himself. And the worst of all, he had a feeling that this was going to become a frequently occurring thing between the two of them.

For the meantime, he pouted while watching an episode of the show Adventure Time, while his mother and his little love were in the kitchen cooking some sort of meat loaf and mashed potatoes for dinner.

He could hear bits and pieces of their conversation, but for the most part he was more attentive to the show than towards what they were saying. Which is exactly why when the TV was suddenly shut off, and he turned around to see his mother looking absolutely furious at him, he sat there somewhat confused.

"Stuart! She's living with yeh?!"

"She 'as nowhere else teh go, Mum."

"I though' she was jus' visitin'! Stu, living with a romantic partner is jus' asking for trouble! Where does she sleep?!"

"... Well, with me, actually."

"She sleeps with you?!"

"Well, yeah."

"Wot if temptations take oveh, Stu!?"

"... Um, they alrea'y 'ave..." Rachel went absolutely pale, and just stood there, staring forward for a few seconds.

"Stuart, are yeh meaning to tell me tha', tha' yew an' this young girl..."

"We, we made luv, Mum."

"Who made love? Surely no' dullard." The three were far too distracted by the current situation that they didn't really pay attention when Murdoc, a.k.a. the worst person to have walked through the door at that moment, came in and joined the conversation without invitation.

"Stuart, I don' think yeh understand jus' 'ow serious this is. Why, little Xia 'ere coul' be with child as we speak!"

"We were safe, Mum."

"Wai-wai- wait jus' a second. Yew? An' 'er?" Murdoc looked at them both simultaneously, then started laughing at the top of his lungs like a maniac, "I bloo'y knew eht! I knew yew two were gettin' eht on an' yew tried calling me an idiot for assuming such! Don' tell me I don' make a good detective!"

"Murdoc, shut up before I hurt you again."

"An' who in blazings is this?!" Rachel asked as she turned to the man who was holding a soaked black hoodie which was dripping all over the floor.

"Tha's me frien' Muh'doc, 'e's stayin' 'ere while 'is brother stays in 'is apartment."

"I can introduce myself, Dad."

"Who's Dad?" Sparky asked as he waltzed in, holding onto the arm of none other than Russell.

"Who's that?!" Rachel asked, pointing to the doorway. Noodle suddenly ran over to her friend and jumped right into his arms, hugging up a storm as they both chuckled.

"Tha's Xia's friend Russell, an' my old room mate, Mum, yew remember 'im."

"Oh good grief do I remember 'im." The woman shook her head in disbelief before turning to her son and sighing.

"Mum, listen. I'm really sorry yeh 'ad teh find out abou' all this in this way," Stuart turned to look at Noodle for a moment, allowing a slight curve to come to his lips as he watched her tackle Sparky with the help of her best friend, "but, I really luv 'er. An' yeah, maybe yew don' approve of us livin' together an' sleepin' together an' 'avin' se-"

"Stu, eht's alrigh'. Yeh a grown man, far too old teh be listenin' teh Mummy. I see the way yeh look at 'eh, ehts differen' from the way yeh looked at yeh other girls. Yeh woul' look at 'em an' be more, idunno, silly. Yeh wanted teh impress 'em an' yew'd totally change yeh personality for 'em. The way yew are with this one, eht's more mutual. Yeh look at 'er with love, not infatuation. I like tha'. She's a good girl for yeh."

"Fanks, Mum. I really appreciate tha'."

"But yeh better git tha' girl a proper bedroom set up, yeh 'ear? Yeh 'ave two bedrooms in this place. She can 'ave one an' your frien' can sleep on the couch."

"He has been."

"Really, Stuart? Wot's the otheh room for then?!"

"Storage."

"Next time I visit, we're cleaning tha' out, yeh hear me? Now, yew and yeh li'el frien's enjoy the meal Xia an' I made for yeh, I gotta git back 'ohme teh David. An' yew both come an' visit us soon, yeh 'ear me?"

"Yes Mum." Stuart smiled meaningfully, enjoying the quiet conversation he was able to have with his mother while everyone else was focusing on matters besides ruining the moment for the time being.

Rachel suddenly turned around and saw Murdoc scrounging around the kitchen, trying to figure out what was done cooking so he could eat it.

"Yew there! Stop bein' a vulture an' change yeh wet clothes! Yeh trackin' wateh all oveh t'is 'ouse!" She turned back to Stuart, who had since come around from the couch and was now right next to her.

"Bye Mum, eht was really nice yeh visitin' an' all."

"Bye, Stuart. An' remember t'is, I want grandchildren, but I don' want them out of wedlock. Imagine the gossip tha' woul' go round in t'is li'el town! Yeh kids woul' be teased!"

"We'll be careful, Mum."

"The best protection is a ring on the fingeh! Marry tha' girl, then yeh kid's kin do whateveh yeh want."

"I'll remember that, Mum."

"Don't yeh forget eht!" She said as she finally leaned in and hugged the man, signaling her final goodbye with a hand wave.

"Bye, me darlin' li'el man! I'll be visitin' again soon. An' yew!" Rachel turned her attention again to the man in the kitchen, who was now sticking his head into the oven to see what was inside, "I tol' yeh once alrea'y to git your bloomin' arse out of teh kitchen! Now git!" She walked away once the man silently complied with her demand, and she made her way towards the three people who were still in the hallway.

"Goodbye, me future daughteh-in-law and grandchild giver! Yeh gonna make a wonderful compliment teh me baby boy some day!" She squeezed her in her arms so tightly, Noodle swore she was going to explode from all the "motherly affection."

The woman said her final goodbyes to everyone, including two more hugs for her son and Noodle, and a solid whap with her purse to Murdoc once he walked over holding a plate full of food. His excuse of "I was bloody starving" did not go over well with her, and he earned yet another whap in the side due to it.

But after all was said and done, the group decided to finally ask Sparky why on earth he walked in the door dragging Russell by the arm.

"Well, you guys, Easter Bunny wants to go on vacation with me. But I felt bad for Stu, being one person less in this big house. So, I found this guy and dragged him over to take my place!"

"Tell 'em the full truth, dingbat."

"Oh alright. I accidentally set five thousand fleas loose in his house and he has to have it fumigated over the weekend. So I told him he could stay here while I visit Burma."

"Why are yeh visitin' Burma?" Stuart asked, surprisingly more interested in that than in the other thing he just mentioned.

"Why were you in his house with five thousand fleas?" Noodle decided to ask the real question here.

"Long story. I followed him home, Mr. Tiny and I got in a fight, a jar filled with five thousand fleas fell out of my pocket..."

"They fell ou' ov my jacket." Murdoc piped up as he finished off his second helping of food.

"Why were you carrying around a jar full of fleas?"

"Ehhh, I 'ad t'is one kid at work I 'ad to set straight. 'Is name's Ronald, the bloke kept teasing me for, uh, things. The fellow is terrified ov bugs, only took a quick shake of the jar teh send 'im runnin' for Mr. Johnson's office faster than a chicken with ignited tail feathers," Murdoc found his own story to be quite hilarious, as he took a pause from it to laugh to himself, "Mr. Johnson is my boss. I found out the 'ard way tha' uh, tha' the kid, Ron, well, 'is las' name is Johnson too for a reason. Well uh, turns out, the kid is my boss's son." He took another pause, not to laugh at himself, but to look at everyone very quickly to make sure they were listening, and then back down at his plate to finish the story, "I got fired today."

Instead of everyone either consoling him or looking surprised, he was for the most part ignored by the majority in the room, which didn't exactly comfort him.

"So anyhow, Russell here will be taking my place while I'm in Burma!" Sparky stood up with glee and shouted. A pair of sunglasses appeared in his hands and he slowly lowered them down onto his face.

"Bye Blooby, I'll send you a box of chocolates! Bye Macaroni, I'll buy you a postcard! Bye WhatsyournameIkeepforgetting, I'll get you a chicken! Bye Mr. Tiny, I'll try and find a nice bass pick for you to use!" Sparky started walking towards the door, ignoring the fact that it was pouring down rain outside, and he was in a tank top and shorts.

"I don' use a pick and yew better come back with a replacement for my bass yew broke!"

"I'll buy you a pick!" And with that, Sparky was gone.

There was a silence for a few moments. Russell was wondering if there was any food left over, and if so, if he was welcome to have some. Murdoc was wondering if anybody would begin to care about the fact that he had been fired. And Stuart was wondering when everyone would fall asleep so he could be alone with Noodle. And Noodle was wondering where she left her phone.

"So..." Russell began, but was suddenly cut off by a loud grumbling sound emitting from his stomach. Looking over at the suddenly refilled plate that was sitting untouched on Murdoc's lap was beginning to make him hungry.

"Me Mum made food if anyone wants some." Stuart said, mostly only to his most recent house guest as the other two quite obviously already knew that. Russell took advantage of Stuart's hospitality and got up to fix himself a plate, when suddenly Murdoc set his food down on the table in front of him with a pout.

"I'm no' hungry anymore. Yew can eat mine." He got up and walked towards the front door, and in one swift motion he opened it up, let himself out, and slammed it shut.

"He alright?" Russell added as he took the filled plate and went into the kitchen to exchange the fork on the plate for a clean one.

"'E's got some anger issues, 'e takes walks every now and then teh clear 'is 'ead." Stuart replied, thinking back to the last time his housemate had suddenly went from cheerful to slightly homicidal, and he had even wound up breaking a lamp one time during one of his uncontrollable fits. Come to think of it, that incident happened Monday night, the night he moved in for what was suppose to be only a few days, but Stuart had a feeling he'd be here much longer, due to the constant fights he heard going on in the middle of the night over the phone between Murdoc and his brother, in which he'd drunkenly yell out "Stay there as long as you want, trash the place, move in, I don't care anymore! My pal Stu wouldn't kick me out on the street like you would, my own flesh and blood."

Stuart had a feeling that there was a lot that the older man wouldn't tell him, whether due to pride or stubbornness, or maybe even embarrassment. But he did know that he had a lot on his mind, and he didn't seem to have an outlet for it at all. Stu knew from experience that that was simply a disaster waiting to happen.

"Have you ever went and walked with him?" Noodle asked, seeming concerned about them both.

"No, 'e told me 'e want's teh be left alone on 'is walks."

"Well, maybe what he really needs is someone to talk to. Have you ever tried seeing what's on his mind?"

"I know 'e and 'is brother don' git along, but 'e owes 'is brother some money so 'e jus' le's 'im treat 'im bad sometimes."

"Well that is not kind." Noodle stood up from her seat and walked towards the door, "I'm going to go talk to him."

"Alrigh', bu' be careful, eht's freezing ou' there." Stu was suddenly greeted by Russell sitting down next to him, holding a plate that contained a bit more food than what was originally on it.

"You like zombie games I see." The man piped up, noting Stu's impressive collection.

"Eh, a li'el bi'. Maybe a lo'."

"You ever play Cooking Mama?" Stuart looked over at the man as if he was crazy, but then he saw the video game in his hand, and then still looked at him like he was crazy.

Noodle walked outside into the freezing cold January night. Snow littered the ground, much of it having been broken apart by the tough rain storm that had swept through, and was still going quite strong, although it had certainly died down and was mostly just rain now with a few gusts of wind every now and then. And yet despite these un-prefered circumstances, standing in the middle of the driveway was Murdoc, in a simple gray t-shirt and a pair of black jeans, hands in his pockets as he stared off into the darkness, completely drenched and yet feeling only the heat of his own burning blood.

"Hey." Noodle called out to him, and he turned around slowly, expecting to see someone in the doorway holding a jacket and saying "You forgot this." But instead, here was a young girl, wearing a jacket of her own as she shivered in the cold and wondered why on earth the man she came to see wasn't a human Popsicle yet.

"Wha' do yew want? Di' 2D boy send yew?"

"No. I came because you seem angry. And insane for being out here without a jacket." She responded, trying her hardest not to let her teeth chatter.

"Trust me, I don' nee' one. I'm burning up righ' now."

"Are you angry because you lost your job?" She asked, hoping to set off a chain that would eventually get him rolling into a discussion that would, in the end, help him work out his feelings. But the way he looked at her and lyingly smiled and chuckled at her told her that he'd be a very, very tough nut to crack, if it was even possible to crack him.

"Angry because I los' my job? I hated my job. My boss was a stressful, nerve-wrecking idiot, my coworkers were all more occupied with hooking up with each other than actually working, an' on top ov tha' eht was a soddy, boring place teh work at all in all. An' now, I ge' teh file for unemployment. So no, love, I ain't angry abou' tha'."

"Well, what are you angry about?"

"Who ever sai' I was angry?"

"You did, just now."

"No I didn'."

"Yes you did."

"Well even if I di' I didn' mean eht."

"Ever heard of a Freudian Slip?" She asked as she sat down on the step outside of the house, resting her legs and pulling them closer to her for warmth.

"Yes, love, yes I 'ave. An' if yew think I'm the type who yew can jus' go an' play games inside ov my mind with, well go ahead an' try, because there ain' nothin' teh see in 'ere." He tapped his dripping wet head and then turned back to look at whatever he was originally looking at.

Noodle said nothing more, she'd have to rethink what exactly she wanted him to admit to. Did she simply wish for him to admit to being angry? Or did she want more? Did she want to know of every incident that plagued him? Or did she just want-

"So yew an' dullard di' eht, di' yew?"

"What?"

"Yew two slept together, made love so 'e calls eht."

"That's really none of your business." She knew what he was trying to do. He was trying to make her the angry one, pass on his own feelings to someone who knew how to deal with them, in a way.

He turned around and walked towards her, and then leaned down and looked her straight in the eyes with one of his sadistic grins.

"As much as my feelings are any ov your business, eh?" He pretended to laugh and then turned back around and resumed his original position.

"Alright. Yes, we did. And I liked it."

"Well I've never 'eard a girl say she didn'." Noodle rolled her eyes at his remark, trying to keep her cool and remember her mission. Maybe if she succeeded in cracking him tonight, he'd stop being such a smart mouth towards her.

"Oh really? And you've been in love?"

"Nope. Don' need eht when you're as good in bed as I am."

"I think you're wrong."

"'Ey, don' judge a book until yew read eht for yourself, 'ey love? 'Ow abou' yew try me ou' before sayin' eht's love tha' made yew like eht."

"I'd never cheat on Toochie, and even if I were the type of girl who would, it wouldn't be with a loser like you." He looked over at her, and then to the side, thinking up a good comeback.

"Aw, come on love. Yew know I'm jus' messin' with ya."

"Be real with me for a second, okay? I'm trying to help you."

"I don' need help." His guard was up again, she needed a new approach.

"Why are you living here with Stuart?"

"My big brother is staying at my place for the week. 'E was only suppose to be there a few days but 'e keeps extending 'is stay."

"Why can't you stay there while he's visiting?"

"I don' fancy my brother, alrigh'? Only lettin' 'im stay there because 'e's 'elpin' me through a few things at the moment."

"So, do you consider yourself a friend of Stuart's?"

"I guess so. 'E's a pain with 'is silly li'el crush on yew..." He trailed off, lowering his voice before figuring out what he was going to say next, "Silly, silly man. Thinkin' love will solve all his problems."

"I think love is a starting point to solving problems, depending upon what they are. You have to have love for something to do pretty much anything in this world, no matter who you are, even if it's just love for yourself. Wouldn't you agree?"

"No' really. I think..." He stopped himself again, taking a breath and turning towards her as he let his thoughts progress into words, "I think that love is a trick. You can love something with all your heart, it ain't going to save it from dying or being destroyed or getting lost or-"

"You're being a little specific. Care to elaborate?"

"Yew an' tha' damn boy, yew do the same thing teh me. Pickin' at me an' pickin' at me until I come clean an' tell yew wha' yew wan' teh hear." He walked over to her and sat down next to her on the short concrete step in front of the house. He took a deep sigh, realizing that this girl didn't appear to be one to share secrets willy nilly. If she told anyone anything, she'd tell Stuart, and he wasn't really one to go around telling people stuff anyway. Maybe thats why he ended up telling him more in one day then he ever told anyone else in his lifetime.

And besides, maybe talking would make him feel better.

"Are yew ready teh hear this?"

"Hear what you're upset about?"

"I ain' gonna tell yew wha' I'm upset abou', you'll jus' 'ave teh figure it out on your own, lovey. No, I'm gonna tell yew my life story." He elaborated on that last part, stretching out his hands to add a sarcastic emphasis.

"Oh really now?"

"Yep. Are yew rea'y?"

"Ready as I'll ever be." Murdoc wrapped a warm arm around his little audience and chuckled against her side. She wasn't completely appalled by the action, since he was actually really warm, but she didn't want to feel weird if he stayed like that too long. Thankfully, he soon dropped his arm, took a breath, and began.

"When I was a kid, around, seven or eight, my parents couldn' afford teh take care ov me anymore. They didn' really wan' me. I knew eht, I wasn' stupid. So, they dropped me off at the house of three men, who I didn' know, an' they probably didn' know either, an' they left."

"They dropped you off at a strangers house?"

"Oh, oh love-" He grinned widely and then turned to her quickly, and enthusiastically grabbed her shoulders, "-Love, these men didn' even speak English. Not a lick ov eht. And I didn' speak a lick ov Spanish either, so for the most part they just stared at me as I sat on their doorstep, crying my bloo'y childish eyes ou' as they tried figurin' ou' wha' the bloo'y 'ell teh do with me."

"What did you do?"

"I di' nothin'. They took me in, two ov them fighting, I figured oveh whether or not teh git rid ov me, while the third one, a big, round fellow, cooked me up some food an' tried understanding me. He eventually convinced the other two teh le' me stay, an' they cleared ou' a room for me an' boom! There I was, beginnin' a new life with three men I didn' know."

"Wow, sounds kind of crazy."

"Trus' me love, yew don' know the half ov eht. One ov them, 'is name was Jose`, became like a father teh me. No, scratch tha', 'e was my father as far as I was concerned. 'E was originally the one who didn' wan' me, but we bonded incredibly well, an' 'e's actually the one who taught me 'ow teh play bass. Turns ou' the three guys were in a band. They decided teh include me, an' I grew up with 'em, learned a lot ov Spanish an' played a lot of gigs with 'em. They were my family. I loved 'em."

"You know Spanish?"

"Si, senorita."

"Please, anyone can-" Noodle was cut off by Murdoc suddenly continuing his story in rather fluent, although a bit rusty, Spanish. She was shocked, nonetheless, as she would never in her life know he was bilingual, but he apparently was telling the truth in this little story of his, as crazy as it sounded.

"Stop, stop, I don't understand you."

"Believe me now?"

"Yes. Yes I believe you."

"Good. Now, where was I? Yes, for my 21st birthday, Jose` decided tha' he and I shoul' go ou' an' hit a bar together. Well, while I was there, I met this girl named Chloe. She was the sexiest, most shapely little thing I 'ad eveh seen. Well, I alrea'y 'ad some experience with women, but this girl was a gold mine, an' she was nuts for me. She became my first real girlfrien'. An' we decided teh move in together."

"You told me that you haven't ever been in love."

"Di' I say I loved 'er?"

"You moved in with her, I hope you at least told her you loved her, even if you didn't mean it."

"Alrigh' maybe I tol' 'er once or twice in hopes tha' she'd give me somethin' in return at the time, bu' I didn' love 'er, okay? Anyhow. I think I forgot to mention this..." He looked down and held his necklace, the warn out, years old golden peace sign, which still shimmered with some sort of life all it's own. "This was my Dad's. Jose`'s, I suppose you would say, but, my Dad's nonetheless. Um, some years 'ad passed since I 'ad moved out. I kept in contact with my family, an' still played bass for them in the band whenever they'd hit a random gig..." He kept slurring a few of his words, and was obviously beginning to shiver.

"You alright?"

"I'm fine." He really wasn't fine, and she saw that. So she got up and went inside for a moment, and when she came out she was holding two jackets for him, a soft, sort of fluffy one, and a heavier leather jacket, both of them jet black. The man who at first claimed he was burning up seemed to look at them longingly, but his stubborn nature refused to admit that he needed them.

"Come on, you're turning blue. Take them." She lightly held them over his head, and he waved them away and scoffed at her.

"I don' need one."

"Murdoc, please. You aren't a kid, don't be so bullheaded." She dropped them on his head, figuring that he'd either put them on when he was ready to admit he needed them, or he'd sit there and suffer from hypothermia after a short while.

"As I was saying, uh... Well... My Dad 'ad cancer. An', a few years after we 'ad found out, 'e passed away. But before 'e di', 'e gave me this, an' tol' me teh... teh keep on... teh keep on livin', keep on fightin', an'..." He was shivering a lot now, his lips were quivering, and Noodle swore she saw a tear forming in his eye, which he kept rubbing at.

"And?"

"...An' teh marry tha' girl... Chloe. Because 'e knew she was, well, good for me. She calmed me down, helped me ou' when I was angry. Made me 'appy. She made me feel like a kid. We'd run aroun' with water guns an' wrestle together. An' man was she great in-"

"I don't need to know the graphic details of your relationship with the woman you claimed you didn't love."

"I liked 'er a lot, okay? But, yeah. After Jose` died, I fell apart from Tony an' Pablo, an' I really, really jus' wanted to be with Chloe. I needed 'er. But when I needed 'er most, tha' was when she decided teh no' be there. She started cheating on me, I didn' realize eht at first but I 'ad a feeling. I started becoming really angry towards 'er, I'd throw fits an' break things in front ov 'er. But I neveh laid a finger on 'er. No' back then at least." Murdoc eventually got sick of his own shivering and quickly put on the softer, smaller jacket, zipping it up quickly before he continued his tale.

"I told you."

"Oh, be quiet. Any'ow, I 'ad followed 'er ou' t'is one nigh'. She didn' see me, bu' I saw 'er, they 'ad met at like a drag race tha' was goin' on. They were on the sidelines, talking for a momen', an' then I saw 'em kiss, an' I fumed. I ran righ' up teh 'em, an' I slugged 'im a good one righ' across the face. While 'e was on the ground I confronted 'er, an' I..." He stopped once more, almost not wanting to continue. But he covered up his pause with the excuse of putting the other jacket on, and then he resumed.

"... Love, le's jus' say I ain' proud ov wha' I di' to 'er, alrigh'?"

"I understand."

"Any'ow, there were other people aroun' us, yeah. One ov 'em called the cops, bu' they really didn' bother trying teh stop me. All in all, the police couldn' git there in time before tha' guy, the guy I foun' Chloe with, came towards me, tryin' teh protect 'er. I threw 'im righ' in fron' ov a car tha' 'ad come racin' by, the driver oblivious teh the scene I 'ad undoubtably caused. The kid wound up dead two days later, twenty two years old, an' I killed 'im. Cut 'is life short, all because I foun' 'im with a woman I didn' even really love. Sad thing is, 'e probably loved 'er more than I did. Eht's needless teh say tha' Chloe an' I 'aven' really talked since. She moved out shortly after, an' I 'ad ended up in jail. I do remember tha' she visited me once, after she 'ad gotten out of the hospital as well, didn' say anything teh me though, she jus' looked at me with tears an' put up a note teh the window tha' said I hope you're happy." His voice had grown incredibly monotone, and it became obvious that he was thinking deeply about all that he was saying. He was being dragged into his past, in a way. These were things he tried to repress, and saying them to someone else seemed to be doing anything but helping him with how he felt. He had to admit that it was a little nice to have someone intently listen to him though.

"Afteh I go' ou' ov jail, I decided to live my life differen'ly. I didn' wan' my angeh teh eveh git the best ov me like tha' again. I started takin' deep breaths whenever I felt myself git tense. Any'ow, one day, a man showed up outta nowhere one day, claiming teh be my biological big brother, on my motheh's side. 'E said tha' she 'ad left 'im, jus' like they lef' me, bu' 'e wen' teh live with our grandparents, who I 'ad thought were dead already. When they died, 'e inherited everything they owned, an' 'e decided to share a li'el of eht with me. Well turns ou', 'e really jus' wan'ed someone teh control. 'E invested a good amoun' ov the money 'e 'ad made, an' 'e became very, very wealthy. Before I knew eht, 'e was paying for everything I couldn', bu' in return, I 'ad teh pretteh much do whatever 'e tol' me. Which wouldn' be so ba' if 'ew wasn' such an arse. Now 'e's pretteh much taken oveh my apartment, surely 'e's trashed the place by now. An' I'll git blamed for eht."

"So that kind of brings us up to date, yes?"

"No' entirely. 'Ell, I've come t'is far with yew, why no' tell yew wha's been bumming me out for real?"

"I'm all ears."

"I'm jealous."

"Jealous?"

"Yeah, ov yew an' 2D boy."

"Why?"

"Tha' blibbering idiot 'as a crush on yew for less than a few weeks an' area'y 'e's go' yew in bed wit' 'im. So 'ow do yew think I feel, when I've watched Noel meet a jack arse of a man, end up dating 'im, an' become engaged teh 'im all while I'm sittin' there tryin' to work out a way to tell 'er I like 'er."

"Noel? You like Noel?"

"Yes I like Noel, wha's wrong with Noel?!"

"She's, plain. And I thought you said you never been in love."

"I don' love 'er bu' eht still 'urts!"

"Right. So if she suddenly turned around tomorrow and told you she really loved you you wouldn't be happy?"

"Well, uh... I guess I'd be giddy, yeah. I'd be 'appy."

"Listen, I know Toochie and I have moved very, very fast. I never, ever in my life thought I'd end up with a guy I've only known a short time, but, it feels really right, like we have known each other for years and years. I honestly have memories of things I did as a child, and I see him there with me, even though I know for a fact that these memories aren't even real. And yet I feel as though they are real. He makes me happy. That's all I really have to say. And I think you deserve a second chance at being with someone. You are not too old to be with a good woman."

"Sheesh, yew an' 2D were made for each otheh. Yew go' tha' same positive attitude, like your very lives depend upon making sure everyone aroun' yew is 'appy." He looked at her with a straight face, and then smiled, "I kin' ov like tha' abou' yew two."

"Well you aren't so bad yourself." She nudged him playfully in the arm, and he nudged back a little softer before getting up and turning towards the door.

"We best be gettin' inside, Stu's probably losing 'is bloo'y marbles bein' away from yew for so long."

"I wish I could say you were joking, honestly."

"'Ey, you're a pretteh good listener. Maybe someday I'll tell yew wha's really on my mind."

* * *

**So, about that part...**

**Surely by now most of you see where this is going, what with Murdoc's life story being very similar to someone elses.**

**I'll elaborate on the subject later.**

**Although I know at least a plot now, 17 chapters in, I'm still rather at the mercy of my own fingertips. I often find myself planning something big, and I go to write it, and it morphs into something else. When I go back and try to change it to the way I originally intended, things don't flow. It's almost like I'm asking the characters "Please, please do this, I know it will be weird but I have a big plan for you guys and-" "Nope. No I'm not doing that. I'm doing _this."_ and then I just flow with it.**

**So, I hope you enjoyed, leave a review if you liked it, and if you're new to this story, a follow or favorite would be much appreciated! I have so much more planned for you guys, and thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed and Favorited and followed! You're all awesome! **

**-The Symmetricalist**


	18. Goodnight

**Hey everyone.**

**I haven't updated in, what, six months? No, maybe not that long. Heck, it might have been longer, I'm not really sure. Either way, it's been a ridiculously long time and I'm sorry.**

**I've been avoiding a chapter like this, that's just an authors note explaining my absence. That's why I'll reassure you, it's not only an authors note, this chapter does have some meat to it, but I need to explain some things first.**

**I started this fanfic without as much vigor as I usually do to my fictions. I'll admit, I didn't really know how to do accents and it bothered me a lot of times when I'd write something in an accent and think "That looks so stupid, I'm gonna be made fun of. Cockney accents don't actually sound like that." I'm a pro at beating myself up over stupid details like that.**

**But, you guys provided a lot of support for me, even if you didn't mean to. Every comment gave me a little more strength, a little more power to keep on writing. I had an entire storyline plotted out, it kept changing and morphing as time progressed though, and eventually I ended up not knowing where I was going.**

**I began reflecting on how this STARTED as a way to encourage myself and others who were going to get their GED. It became a love story, a comedy, a drama, I may or may not have had a few moments of tear jerkers in here, I don't really remember. Point is, I deviated from my main plot, like I usually do. But I deviated so much that I lost myself and wasn't sure what I should do, if I wanted to continue with the plot in my head, or let my fingers flow the way they had been and end up in California when I started in Florida (Just a silly metaphor, I wasn't being serious, for anyone curious. Honestly, I don't even know where I placed the characters physically when I started this, they could be in any state or country or whatever.)**

**Point is, my brain was fighting against my heart. My heart had it's own storyline that it wanted to follow, one that made more emotional sense than it did logical sense, it wanted to totally trash the idea that this was based around GED students, and instead focus on pretty much everything BUT that. My brain didn't agree with that approach, however, and wanted to go on a different path, one that would make more sense to the storyline and not have readers wondering what the hell was happening.**

**After trying so hard to agree with my brain and actually do something GED related with the story, I gave up, and realized I for one was simply not prepared enough to take up the story in a sensible way and not burn out, and two, I was far too emotionally involved with the story and the direction it was heading to suddenly change it, or do things that I thought should happen, even if I really didn't want them to happen.**

**All this being said, I guess it all comes down to the fact that I simply can't write it anymore. My inspiration, motivation, and zeal for it has died. And I don't see a way to resurrect it.**

**But, again, that being said, I really don't want to see this story die. I want to see it continue, just not with me at the wheel. So, if any one of you has seen where this thing is heading, would like to know what my separate plot ideas were and think you can take it on and end it with glory, please contact me, PM me, talk to me and tell me that you'll take it on. Tell me what you plan to do, I'll tell you what I planned to do, and we can see where this thing eventually goes. Because I really, really don't want to see it die.**

**And after this long, exhausting authors note, we come to what I managed to do with it before losing my zeal. It's unfinished, rocky, a disaster of literary gibberish perhaps, but it's all I have left to show you.**

**And, this being said, here's my final chapter, but hopefully not THE final chapter.**

* * *

Monday.

Bloody, sad, depressing Monday.  
The death of the weekend. The birth of the work week.  
Or, for two worn out, groaning, tired men, the birth of the school week.  
AEC students were fortunate. GED classes were designed for busy adults with families and jobs and lives outside of the learning circle. That's why classes rarely exceeded three hours, ran from early morning to night, and only occurred four days of the week.  
And yet, although it seemed all the stars were aligned in their favor, these two men refused to awaken in time for their assigned classes. Not without reason, of course. They typically made it to orientation religiously, but today, they had the consequences of a Sunday night spent talking and drinking over random movies, reminiscing about the good old days, and all in all getting to know each other better.

These two men remained awake until at least four in the morning, the older of the two not actually sleeping until around six, as his thoughts about the past had started plaguing him again. However, the younger one fell asleep the moment he hit the mattress after having finally given in to his little love kindly asking him to come to bed and reminding him that he had his first day of class in the morning.

And now, as the sun had crept in through the windows, they both regretted it. Noodle had constantly been hitting Stuart with a pillow, trying her hardest to annoy him into waking up. But he eventually seemed to enjoy it, so she resorted to pushing him off the bed, onto the cold, hard ground. But still, his lazy butt could really care less, and she figured if he wouldn't get up, maybe she could awaken the other teenager of a man.

She arrived downstairs to see her beloved friend in the kitchen, cooking up some bacon that the boys could be enjoying in a moment, if they'd awaken. But instead of seeing the eldest in the group of four hanging by the stove like a shameless vulture ready to attack like he usually was, he too was still dead asleep, in a rather uncomfortable looking position on the couch.

How could anyone sleep when there's bacon being made no more than twenty feet away?

She decided to ignore him for the time being and instead went over to greet her friend, giving him a big hug on his arm and greeting him with a friendly "Good morning" as he returned the words and cautioned her about the bacon grease splatter.  
"No luck with getting your boy up yet, huh?" Russell asked as the young woman sat down at the table and waited for the food to finish cooking.  
"No. He's pretty much dead, I threw him off the bed and he barely moved. I actually checked his pulse just to make sure." "Same here, baby girl. I tried everything to get this sucker up. Shook him senseless, bashed a pot right next to his ear, even put an ice pack down his shirt. Nothin'." Noodle thought for a second, trying to think up a way to get at least one of these men up. Her eyes traveled around the room, eventually settling themselves upon Murdoc's bass guitar that was sitting up against the staircase, his amp right next to it. A rather risky, probably dangerous idea went through her mind, but she figured it to be the only solution to getting him up, and if she did it right, both of them would awaken.  
She ran over to the bass, and pulled the strap around her shoulder, resting the instrument upon her back. She then grabbed the amp and headed up the stairs quickly.  
It didn't take more than three minutes before the incredibly loud strumming was heard throughout the house. The man on the couch shot up quicker than lightning, hearing his "Baby" crying out from the upstairs room and quickly falling into a state of anger and panic. Who in their right minds would ever touch his precious bass? The one he just bought yesterday to replace the one somebody broke while busting down a door?  
Meanwhile, in the room that the sound was coming from, Stu was trying to wiggle underneath the bed, covering his ears from the rude awakening that had befallen him. He felt an awful headache coming on, but his arms simply didn't have the strength right now to reach up to the nightstand and grab a bottle of his pills.  
Murdoc came crashing into the room, his head pounding as well as he walked up to the girl responsible for all this, looked her dead in the eyes, and with one hand, he lifted the instrument right off of her.  
"Don't. Touch. My bass. Ever." He said through gritted teeth as he unplugged it from the amp and left the room with it. Noodle giggled at his reaction, and at her own victory, and then turned her attention to Stu, who was performing a pathetic reenactment of a mole digging in the ground as he scratched relentlessly at the floor, his eyes shut tight as he tried to escape the light.  
"Toochie?"  
"No... Sun... Mus'... Sleep... More... 'Ead... 'urtin'... Sun... Blindin'... Sleep, need sleep. An' pills."  
"Toochie, stop being dramatic." She grabbed his ankles and pulled him out from underneath the bed, using every bit of her strength as he fought her and tried his hardest to retreat back to his spot. Eventually, though, his tiredness, mixed with the throbbing pain in his head, caused him to give up and just turn himself into a ball shape, shivering as his shirtless body laid out in the cold.  
"Yeh meanie... Leavin' meh 'ere on teh floor, dyin' in teh col', col' air. I though' yew luved meh, I di'."  
"You shouldn't have stayed up so late. I warned you." She stood straight up and put her hands on her little hips.  
"I'm takin' teh day off." Stuart said as he slowly wiggled himself back towards the bed, "Miss Rogerson will undehstan'."  
"No, Toochie. If your head hurts, I'll rub it for you, okay? But you have to go to class."  
"'Ow abou', yew rub me 'ead, yeah. An' then, instea' uf class, yew le' meh sleep."  
"No, Toochie."  
"Wot if teh world en's today? We coul', lioke, jus', jus' cuddle, yeah? An' t'en-"  
"You're going to class even if I must drag you there myself."  
"Oi, fine, 'ave eht your way. Bu', gimme me pills. An' rub me 'ead, pwease."  
"I'll do anything for you just to make sure you get there, okay?" She handed him his bottle and helped him up onto the bed, but her words admittedly perked him up.  
"Anyfink?"  
"Anything within reason, yes." He swallowed a few of his pills dry, and then rested his head into her lap so she could begin massaging him.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Who the bloo'y 'ell does she think she is? Takin' my bass upstairs an' playin' it, shamelessly plucking at my strings wit' 'er beady li'el 'ands. She underestimates me, I think. Think's that since we're friends she can jus' go touchin' my stuff. She's in for a rude awakening, yeah. I wouldn' even let my own son touch my bass. 'Ell, I wouldn' even let-"  
"What are you mumbling about man? Get a shirt on and come get some food and stop whining about your dumb guitar."  
"It's a BASS."  
"If it ain't a damn cello, then it's just a guitar. A guitar with four thick strings instead of six. Face it, you're an under-glorified guitarist."  
"Listen, pudgy, bass is a very important instrument. It's a sound all it's own. You can't jus' take three strings off a guitar and call it a bass."  
"Three strings?"  
"Yeah."  
"Then you'd only have three strings left on the guitar."  
"Uh, well not if it was a seven stringed bass to begin with."  
"Bass? We're talking about a guitar aren't we?"  
"What? Oh shaddap! I don't have time for this, it's too early for thinking."  
"Clearly."  
"But it's never too early for a good beer." The bassist made his way over to the fridge and opened it up, expecting to be greeted by his impressive/sickening collection of various alcohols that had taken over Stuart's poor fridge during the past week. But, instead, all he saw were fruits, vegetables, bottles of water, and canned sparkling juice.  
"Your alcohol dependency is really sad, you know that?"  
"Where is all my bloo'y beer!?"  
"Oh, would you look at that? Seems like you and Stu drank the rest of it last night.."  
"We didn' drink it all!"  
"If ya'll didn't drink it all then what the hell is this?" Russell picked up a garbage bag filled to the brim with cans, bottles, and boxes, and set it down in the middle of the kitchen.  
"What's that?"  
"This is all the crap I've been picking up day after gosh darn day. I swear to the fact that you leave more beer cans around the house than a cat would of it's own fur."  
"No, you see, this is the problem. You're the reason why the beer is gone!"  
"How the hell is it my fault, I didn't touch any of your beer!"  
"I leave the beer cans in front ov me, an' when there's too many, I go an' buy more beer. You've been pickin' all ov 'em up, so I 'aven't been keeping track of how many I've drank!"  
"You don't see how many are left when you go and get another beer? Are you kidding me?"  
"No, I don'!"  
"Well that's your fault, man. I don't wanna be living in filth while my home is being fumigated, which is your fault too, by the way."  
"Eht was not my fault! Eht was that tall fellow's fault, 'e challenged me!"  
"One, you two shouldn't even have been in my house to begin with, and two, normal people don't carry jars of fleas around with them so that they get smashed and release thousands of blood sucking bugs into unsuspecting homes."  
"Well, if people woul' stop gettin' me so pissed off then maybe I wouldn' 'ave needed tha' jar ov fleas to begin with!"  
"Maybe you should stop letting people piss you off to the point where you go and do stupid things."  
"I fail to see how the jar of fleas was really that stupid of an idea." Russell raised an eyebrow and Murdoc suddenly rethought his wording, "Okay, maybe that sounded better before I said it. But still, it's not my fault."  
"Of course, because nothing is ever your fault, you just pass on the blame, like a kid."  
"Hey, I took the blame before, I took it to the point where I ended up in jail."  
"Yeah, that ain't surprising."  
"I'm being serious."  
"Trust me, I know you are."  
"What do you mean?"  
"I know you went to jail."  
"You know I went for what?"  
"Hey man, that's all the kid told me was that you ended up in jail."  
"Which kid?"  
"Stu, who else?"  
"I'll kill him."  
"Man, you just told me yourself that you went to jail, what difference does it make if I already knew? Just chill out."  
"Whatever. I'm gonna go get dressed."  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A middle aged woman, with ruby red glasses and silvering brown hair, walked around the class room, passing around a clipboard from student to student as she silently waited for the last few names on her list to walk in and take their seats. It was a small class, only around six students or so once all in her list arrived, but she did well to serve her purpose in it, her purpose being to catch up these few students to an acceptable grade before passing them on into a higher class. She would make sure to do well with these new faces, sit with those who looked like they were either about to cry or throw a chair through the wall, and help them to grasp the meaning of the words, letters, numbers, and symbols in front of them.  
She would be primarily working with those struggling with Math today, but there were a few others who needed help in other things, Language Arts particularly. For the most part, no matter what kind of help her students needed, she would be ready and willing to give it.  
"Alright, class, let's begin-" Just as she was about to pass out a sheet of math problems to each student, in walked our protagonist, or rather, in walked Murdoc dragging our protagonist by the arm rather forcefully.  
"I'm tellin' yeh, I ain' in t'is class! I'm in teh upstairs room!"  
"None of those teachers are even in today, we checked remember? And that guy who gave you this special schedule is nowhere to be seen."  
"Maybe I'm suppose teh jus' wait for..."  
"Ahem." The teacher looked at the two with the slightest shred of disappointment. A proper lady herself, she would have hoped that a man who was easily a few years older than her would have shown a bit more respect for her and her class than to just barge in while holding onto his screaming friend.  
"Ah, Miss ah, teacher la'y."  
"McNully."  
"Yes, yes, my friend here claims that some man gave him a special schedule. Well, none of the teachers on this schedule are even working today, or so we've been told. So I figured he would just come in with me into this pre-class, tha' alrigh'?"  
"The pre-class is the only class open for the next two weeks, any students who don't need to take it will begin actual classes once my work is finished. What schedule were you given?"  
"T'is." Stu handed her the crumbled up blue card, and she adjusted her glasses as she took it into her hand and read it over, taking a moment to process the information before looking up at them and responding with an almost shocked stare.  
"There are no teachers in this school by these names."  
"Wot?"  
"I know every single teacher and staff member here by name, and there is not a Mr. Aiken or Ms. Jackson working as a teacher in this entire building. Who was the man who handed you this card?"  
"A shor', baldish guy, I ain' 'ever seen 'im before. Sai' t'is was honors classes."  
"We don't do "honors classes" here. We have different grade levels, but that's it. What was this man's name, do you know?"  
"Nah, 'e never sai' a name."  
"Hmm, well, it sounds fishy to me. Go to Clara Watson's office and tell her, she'll be able to sort this out."  
"A'ight, fanks." Stu walked out, leaving his friend behind as he set off through the never ending halls of the school to find Clara and sort this entire mess out.  
After searching at least a dozen rooms downstairs and a dozen more upstairs, he finally came across a room that had a sign to the side which read Clara Watson in gold lettering, and after reassuring himself that this was the name that he was looking for, he walked in the already open doorway.

* * *

**I find it ironic that, as I'm writing this, Tomorrow Comes Today just popped up on my Spotify. I feel like it's a good song to describe the situation. Maybe, maybe not. Maybe I'm just putting too much thought into this as usual.**

**To be honest, this isn't the only story I've lost my motivation for. Lately I find it hard to write anything creative. I've been incredibly depressed lately, not much seems to be going my way. Of all the hell ablaze around me though, I do have one positive thing in my life still. Well, two. I'm talking about my awesome boyfriend, and my bestfriend, I love you guys. **

**I'm totally serious about being open to someone taking this over. I really don't want it to end on this note. Even if you just want to take this chapter and fix it up a bit and make it more readable, if that'd be possible.**

**Anyhow, thank you to everyone who has read this, commented on it, favorited it, followed it, or even just book marked it and kept up with it whenever you have the chance (I admit I do that when I don't feel like signing into my account, remember fellow writers, you might have more readers than are shown!)**

**Well, that's pretty much all I have to say about this. Thank you again, readers, my wonderful, awesome sources of encouragement and, in some cases, to those of you who have become my friends through PMing, thank you. You're all wonderful people, keep doing what you do and stay positive.**

**I feel like I'm writing my last authors note ever. Sheesh.**

**Thank you again, farewell for now. Perhaps we shall meet again someday. Hey, if the Gorillaz are making another album after all this time, maybe I'll be writing fanfics again after a long break. I hopefully will. I just don't see it in the near future.**

**Until next time, Goodnight,**

**-TheSymmetricalist**


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